by J. R. Tate
The horses were a blessing and a curse. The longer they stayed in one place, the easier it’d be to get spotted or get trapped. Jake figured he was a glutton for punishment - he went straight to the barn, sliding the wooden door open slowly. Colin was at an angle where he could see inside and Jake heard him gasp when the sunbeams provided enough light to get a good view.
“Son of a… Is that who you were telling us about?”
Jake ducked his head and closed his eyes. “Yeah. That’s him.” Scrounging for supplies felt wrong but he didn’t have time to have a struggle with his own conscience. Times of survival meant times of compassion being thrown out the window - it was another adjustment Jake was struggling to make.
There were several cabinets on the far wall that he didn’t see in the dark. Opening them all, he found a hammer, a box of nails, and a small leather toolbox. Without a car they wouldn’t be useful but when thinking of weapons, they could make use of them somehow. Setting them on the travois next to Colin, Jake took a long pull of water and looked up over at the house. Becky and Larry were busy going through it and a few of the other men were checking on a storage shed on the back lot.
“I sure hope they came up with more than I did.”
“A hammer is a multi-use object,” Colin replied, holding it up. “You found the horses. At this point in time, it’s equivalent to striking gold.”
“Now that we’re alone for the first time since before the crash, level with me Colin.”
“What do you mean?”
Jake leaned against the wall of the barn and folded his arms over his chest. The sky was darkening to the west over the nearby mountain range and rumbles of thunder echoed. Rain would be nice but they had to make sure the horses didn’t spook and run off.
“What do you think is going on? Do you think we’ll make it home?”
Colin adjusted his weight and sat up, looking Jake in the eye. “What other option do we have?”
“I know. I’m trying not to get discouraged and I’ll damn sure not let my doubts be known around the others. I just wanted to see what you thought.”
“What I think?” Colin pointed at his chest and sat back against the blankets underneath him. “I think every step down that highway is a step closer. One foot in front of the other, man. One foot in front of the other. If we don’t do that, we’re as good as dead. Either we end up like that guy in there or someone gets us if we don’t keep marching forward.” Colin pointed in the shed.
“You’re right.” Jake nodded. “I know we’ll get there.”
“As for what all this actually is…” Colin spread his hands and continued, “I have no damn clue, Jake. Until we actually run across a sane person with some sense of reality, we can speculate all day and it’ll just drive us crazy. And let’s face it - we’ve seen enough crazy that we don’t need anyone else losing their minds.”
Colin’s assessment made Jake laugh. “I’m glad you’re here, Colin. Without you, I probably would need to be thrown in a padded room already.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
“Let’s get everyone gathered up. There’s a storm coming and we should probably pin these horses up. The last thing we need is for them to run off.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Sophie felt like everything was moving in slow motion. How could this have happened? Just when she thought that things were progressing forward and they would make it back to Texas, a hitch in their plan sent them into a tailspin, hindering her from getting back to her family. Keeping Danny from getting home to his. She understood the trek south would take months but at least they were moving in the right direction. And now, a creepy man stepped in, laughing in their face. How dare they want to get back to familiar ground.
The man doctored up Danny with the first aid kit and closed the plastic box. Clapping his hands together, his toothy grin exposed rotted teeth and Sophie’s first assumption was that he was a meth addict. If that was a safe observation, it would explain the man’s behavior and his immediate disregard for living a clean and legal life.
“What’s your name?” Sophie asked, breaking the silence of the dark room. Maybe if they could find out more information about each other, she could play the sympathy card and he’d let them go. It was a far stretch but she had to try.
The man glanced at her from the corner of his eye and didn’t answer. Standing, he patted the dust from his pants and put the plastic box back where he got it.
“It’s not like we can go to the police. I’m just curious.”
“Lee. My name is Lee. I’d ask you your names but I already know.”
“How?” Sophie looked over at Danny who was awake but not responding. She made eye contact with him and the sadness in his expression hurt her heart. He was probably feeling exactly like she was - both in shock that something like this could happen, solidifying that life as they knew it was over.
“You’re Sophie and this gentleman is Daniel.” Lee held up their bags. “I went through your stuff. Found your student IDs. You both were in school back in Boston?”
“If you saw our ID’s you already know the answer to that question.” Sophie leaned against the wall and kicked her legs out in front of her. It felt good to stretch out. Her body was stiff and a hot yoga class would feel amazing to work the kinks out. But her yoga classes were gone like everything else. Now her fate rested in the hands of Lee, who already made it perfectly clear what his intentions of her were. Replenishing the population. The thought made her shiver.
Lee smirked. “Smart ass millennial rich kid. You think you’re better than me because you are getting college educated?”
“No, I didn’t say that.” She looked at Danny again, wishing he’d chime in but he laid in the same position, his face swollen from the beating. Maybe he was mad at Sophie. Maybe he was completely out of it.
“Let me ask you this, college girl. What good is that education gonna do you now? The world is burning. And you’re stuck here with me. What good is it gonna do you?”
Sophie stammered on her words. She had no answer for him. Her heart raced as Lee scooted closer to her, so close that she could smell his body odor. Lifting her chin with his index finger, he looked her right in the eye, his brow set in a hard line. The rise and fall of her chest quickened as adrenaline shot through her. Was this it? Was this how she was going to lose her innocence? She felt the warmth in the corner of her eye as a few tears fell down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumb and smiled, his stale breath as nauseating as his body odor.
“Are you… are you going to rape me?” Sophie had no idea where the question came from but it was too late to take it back.
Lee’s eyes widened and he took his hand away from her face. “We can’t stay here much longer. And I hope you eventually realize that sex is the only way we are going to save this planet. I guess I’m crazy for thinking someone who went to college in Boston would understand the situation. This will prevent the end of the world.”
For a moment, Sophie saw the pain in Lee’s eyes. Was his mission really to save humanity or was it a ploy to get her into bed? Either way, it wouldn’t work. “If you truly believe that, Lee, you’ll let me be with Danny. If that’s the real reason, what’s the difference in me getting pregnant by you or getting pregnant by him?” She pointed to Danny whose face showed no emotion, just a blank stare that made Sophie’s skin crawl.
Lee looked up the stairs toward the exit of the cellar. He put his index finger over his mouth to silence her. Whispering, he said, “We need to go. My brother is up there and he’ll help. This house is dangerous.”
“You didn’t answer me, Lee.”
“When we get to our destination, you’ll know. Until then, I need you to be quiet. We need to get out of this cellar.”
Lee helped get Danny off the floor and took them up the stairs. Danny staggered and almost fell down the steps but with Lee and Sophie on either side, they prevented the tumble. When they got to ground level, they were met by a man t
hat was identical to Lee, right up to the rotting teeth and crazed look. The woman was there too, waiting beside him.
“This is Ray, my twin brother.”
Sophie didn’t say anything. Ray didn’t either. He held a shotgun and pointed it at them. “Come with us. You did good, Lee. She’s perfect.”
A knot settled in the pit of Sophie’s stomach. This was really happening and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She felt the cold metal of the gun push into the small of her back, reminding her that she had lost control of everything. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt Danny’s hand take hers, his fingers intertwining in hers. He glanced at her and pursed his lips - it was a small gesture but a big indication that he was very well aware of what was going on. It was an act - better to not appear as a threat so their captors would keep him alive. The thought of Danny losing his mind scared the hell out of her. It meant she was alone in this. But now it meant he was very well still there and if they ever got to be alone again, she couldn’t wait to hear what he had up his sleeve.
It took everything Sophie had to not yell out in joy. They were being marched off to God knew where but she still had a small flicker of hope deep inside that they would make it out of this situation alive. All it took was a plan - it was better than rolling over and dying.
***
Jake stood on the wrap-around porch of the vacant ranch house and watched the storm clouds come in. The weather had been tolerable since the crash with the temperatures never getting too hot - the only problem was the humidity that made it feel hotter than it was but being from Dallas made him used to it. They were able to lift Colin’s pallet onto the porch as well and Jake propped him at an angle where he could also watch the weather. The rest of the group was spread out and resting, everyone quiet and exhausted from everything that was happening.
“The sky sure is beautiful, isn’t it?” Colin lifted his head and watched the same clouds that Jake was.
“It is. Nothing better than mountain thunderstorms. The echo of the thunder seems to last forever.”
“You think it’s severe?”
Jake shook his head and ate a package of peanuts. “Nah. It’s nothing compared to our big Texas storms. We got the horses penned up in time just in case they get spooked. I set up some buckets to catch the rain water too.”
“Where’d you find buckets at?”
Jake pointed toward the barn. “In there when I was looking for weapons. We can refill a lot of our empty bottles. At least we’ll know the water isn’t contaminated. I wasn’t sure about the water back at the lake.”
“That’s good thinking, Jake. That would’ve never crossed my mind.”
“I have good ideas sometimes. With the way our luck has been going, this storm is coming straight at us but will turn right when it gets here.”
Colin laughed and rested his head back on the blanket. “Luck seems to have taken a turn. You stumbled across horses and we found some guns. That’s equivalent to winning the lottery back before all of this started happening.”
Jake sat on the first step of the porch and finished the peanuts. Becky was sitting with a young girl, helping braid her hair. “We have witnessed some crazy shit since the plane crash. I killed a man. And a man killed himself right there in the barn. But I guess I still have faith in humanity. There’s still some good out there, even if it’s not much.” Rain began to fall, soaking into the ground. The wind picked up, swirling the nearby trees. Thunder in the distance rumbled, echoing off of the mountains. At that moment, Mother Nature was beautiful.
“Of course there’s good out there. If there wasn’t, what the hell is the point of all of this?” Colin spread his hands and motioned toward everyone. “You’re right. We’re gonna run across a lot more evil on our way back home. But good always trumps evil, right?”
“I hope so.”
The lightning got closer and a bright flash was immediately followed by a loud clap of thunder. Jake scooted back under the awning of the porch and closed his eyes. If he imagined hard enough, he could feel Alice next to him. He could hear Sophie and Dylan laughing as they played in the rain. It was like previous camping trips where they had to rush back to the campsite during a hike to beat the weather. He’d give anything to go back to those days.
The weather never got more severe than heavy rain and eventually turned into a nice rain shower. It seemed to have lifted everyone’s spirits, including Jake’s, and by the time the cloudburst had passed over them, he felt rejuvenated and ready to take on anything. The group gathered in the living room of the house where they took inventory of the supplies they had gathered from the shed, barn, basement, and the house.
“There was a gun cabinet up in the master bedroom.” Larry lay four guns on the floor, along with two rifles and one shotgun.
Most of the tension Jake felt about being able to protect themselves had subsided. He found hammers and a knife and along with what Larry had come across, they were set for a while. Along with having horses, the target over their heads was bigger now. They had a good supply of food, adequate transportation, and now an arsenal of protection that would look appealing to almost anyone.
“We’ll have to be smart with ammunition. There seems to be a lot there but we have no way of getting to more unless we loot some more, which we really don’t have time for.” He hesitated to say the rest with the children around but they’d have to learn how to protect themselves as well. “If someone is after you or anyone else in this group, shoot to kill. Shoot at center mass or their head. Since we have to ration bullets like we’re having to ration food, it’s what we’ll have to do to make it.” The image of the man he shot and killed flashed in his memory - even though Becky was in immediate danger, pulling the trigger and taking a life was still tough.
“Who all gets a gun?” Larry asked.
“All of us on horses. Colin should get one on the travois. The rest of the weapons we’ll keep in reserve as backup. I hope to God we are never in a situation where we will need more.” It felt like they were a cult preparing for war. He had let Sophie and Dylan learn how to shoot at a young age but the thought of teaching these children felt different. Maybe because they weren’t his own kids.
“You realize people are out killing others for a lot less than what we have. We’re gonna be the group that people either will want to join or want to take over.” Colin cringed as he spoke. He was the voice of reason and the anchor that Jake needed. He spoke exactly what Jake was feeling but didn’t want to say.
“You’re right. We have to be vigilant and ready for anything.” Jake pulled the handgun he had already used from his waistband and checked the magazine. With the exception of the bullet he shot at the lake, it was full. “The longer we sit around waiting, the more daylight we’re burning. Let’s get the horses gathered up and get moving.”
“Do you really think we’re gonna run into that much trouble out there?” Becky asked.
“I don’t know what to think but it’s better to be prepared than not, right?” Jake tried to hand her a gun but she didn’t take it. “Take it. I’d feel better if you had one.”
“I’ve never even held a gun, Jake. I’m more dangerous with it than I am without it.”
“Then stick close to someone who does have one. I’m serious when I say that we will be targets.”
“I know.” Becky nodded. “I just don’t wanna believe it. Like denying it will make it all go away.”
“Ignoring it will just put us in more danger.” Jake took a step toward the door. “Let’s get out there with everyone else. I really wanna get home to my family. I’m sure you do too. Standing around here isn’t helping us cover any ground.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Tom helped Ben lug the cooler full of water down the block. The water sloshed inside and it was a sound Alice loved to hear - it meant she could drink enough water to nourish her dehydrated body. Taking small sips periodically was not helping her system and now it was like hitting a gold mine. Her
euphoria over finding Ben and the water faded when she thought about Dylan. He wasn’t at home and he wasn’t at school. Where else could he be?
Tom, Randi, and Ben all walked in silence. Alice noted the location of the sun. The heat of the day was starting to kick in but she couldn’t stop. She needed daylight to help look for her son. When night time hit, the danger increased and she wanted to be back at her home where the walls of the house provided a small bit of security though it was easy to break in.
“Ben, do you know where Dylan could be?” Alice’s voice shook and she didn’t even attempt to hide how upset she was. The thought of any of her family being in danger or dead made her physically ill, especially since Dylan should’ve been the easiest one to find.
“Other than school we used to hang out at the pizza place by the freeway.”
Alice took a deep breath and stopped. Attempting to gather her thoughts, she counted to three so she wouldn’t lose her cool again. “What about friend’s houses? Doesn’t he have some friends in the neighborhood?”
Ben leaned on the water cooler and arched his eyebrow. “He was…” Ben hesitated, stopping himself in mid-sentence.
“He was what? Please, Ben… Now’s not the time to worry about getting him in trouble. He was what?”
“He was seeing a girl. I can’t remember her name but she didn’t live far from the school. He used to…” He stopped himself again, looking at Tom and Randi, then down to the ground. “He used to go to her house at lunch. He never stayed on campus once they started going out.”
Alice let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Her gawky little Dylan was seeing a girl? She thought she knew everything about him and never once would she have thought he was up to that. And now her sweet little boy was missing, somewhere out there in the destruction and disaster playing out in front of them.
