by Lynn Lamb
“Heh, you’re kidding me,” said Jackson.
“I was the one who found the tracks,” I said holding up my camera for all to see.
“We don’t have time for this,” Fitz said. I was happy that Mason hadn’t been invited to the party.
“Adam, you said that there were some structures down the hill from here?” Jackson asked.
“Yeah, there is a place that looks like a small castle about half a mile down the hill,” he said.
“You mean Chateau Valley? It survived?” I asked.
“You know it?” asked Jackson.
“Hell’s ya,” I said. “It was a winery.”
Jackson gave everyone their orders and let Adam lead us down the hill.
“Jake, you okay?” I asked when I noticed the look on his face.
“I’m not too happy leaving those two back in the truck,” he said.
“He knows?” Jackson asked me.
“Welcome to the Chateau Patton. Nothing stays a secret for too long. Oh, and he knows about us, too,” I told him.
We continued walking to a sharp ledge. The four of us stood and looked out without a word. We had a clear view down the Valley, and it took my breath away. Besides some bald patches, trees still stood firmly and proudly in their places. We stood for minutes, taking it in. Jackson put his hand around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.
“That was uncomfortable,” said Jake.
“Sorry,” I said to Jackson just before punching Jake in the arm. “Once you are accepted by the Patton’s, be prepared for inappropriately timed comments.”
“I’m learning, doll. We better get moving,” said Jackson.
We walked on until I saw the turret from the “castle” that Adam was talking about. There were many shoe prints by then, and Jackson had us crouching down behind a big rock formation. He called in our coordinates, and within a few minutes Doc Riley, Tabitha, Sampson, Baldwin, Fitzpatrick and Owens were in place.
“So, now what?” I asked. Everyone looked at me like I was insane, but I am used to that by now. “What?”
“Sorry, Laura. There’s no ‘what’ for civilians,” said Fitzpatrick.
“If it’s the Wanderers, which is my guess, then maybe Laura should be the person to talk to them first,” said Sampson.
“We need to know what is going on before anyone talks to anyone. Sorry, Laura, but Fitz is right. This is a military operation, and I am running it. Owens, take the south side, Fitz, the north, and Jake and I will take the back. Let’s go,” said Jackson.
“Jake’s a civilian,” I muttered under my breath.
That left Alexis, Tabitha, Adam, Sampson and I hiding behind the rocks, twiddling our thumbs. We did have a view of the men moving around the building, guns drawn, and I captured it all on camera. I would never have handled it like they were, but there weren’t any MT left to argue with.
“Laura, I have been meaning to tell you that I love your new look,” said Alexis.
We both giggled at the absurdity of the comment at the time, but what the hell. “Thanks, the cabin has a lot of great stuff. You should stop by. There is a ton of makeup and stuff, and that woman who owned the cabin knew how to accessorize.”
“I want to come and see, too,” said Tabitha.
Adam rolled his eyes, but Sampson laughed and said, “Me too, me too.”
We all laughed until Jackson’s voice came over the walkie. “There is movement inside. Everyone to the east side door, we are going in.”
“No, no, no,” I said as I fumbled for my walkie. At the same time, Ammie and Thomas appeared out of nowhere.
“Stay here,” Thomas ordered Ammie.
He ran to the door. All of our men pulled their guns as Jackson tested the door. It was unlocked, so he flung it wide, and they poured inside the building.
Minutes blew by, and I began to start panicking. I could tell that something was wrong.
A bullet blast from inside of the building pierced the stillness of the freezing air. A scream came from behind me. Ammie looked like she was going to pass out, and Tabitha grabbed her. I could hear screaming coming from within the building, as well. I turned around and grabbed Ammie in my arms. She was shaking and crying.
“Ammie, I have a shot that will help you to calm down. Do you want it?” asked Alexis.
“No,” she replied firmly.
As minutes passed, I considered calling Colonel Mason out of sheer panic, but finally Jake came out of the building and made his way to us.
“Everyone is alright. There are at least forty Wanderers in there. One of their guns went off accidentally. But it’s not going real well. Jackson sent me to get Laura, if she is up to it,” Jake said.
“Yeah, I’m up to it. But stay here with her please,” I told him, passing Ammie to her father.
“Just walk in that door and go into the room on the right. Guns are drawn on both sides. It’s tense, but they know you’re coming. When you get in there, move directly behind Jackson and be careful. If anything happens, get out of there as fast as you can. Here,” he handed me his mask, and I made my way to the door.
A putrid smell assaulted me before I even made it through the door. I pulled on my mask, which did little to help and checked for the red light on my camera.
It was dimly lit inside, with only a few windows that were high up on the walls. The building stood two stories high. The room was immense, with wine barrels lined up in neat rows, and stacked four barrels high, just waiting to be milked. As my eyes adjusted, I saw our people to my right, only a few feet into the room. Jackson, Baldwin, Fitzpatrick and Owens were crouched in what appeared to be an office that was directly to the right of the door where I entered.
Before I could think of what to do, I thought of Bailey. She had lost so much, was it fair to put myself in this kind of danger and risk her losing me, too?
Jackson said my name in a loud whisper, and I made my way into the room. A desk was on its side and the men had their guns rested on the ledge of the desk, pointed out a window that looked onto the winery floor.
“So, what’s the plan here?” I asked.
“They aren’t too happy to see us,” said Owens.
“I should think not, with all of these guns pointed at them,” I said.
“They have weapons, didn’t you hear the shots?” asked Baldwin.
“Shot, I heard one shot, and Jake said it was an accidental fire. Have you tried talking to them?”
“Of course,” said Jackson. “I told them to drop their weapons.”
“Brilliant,” I said. “Wow that smell. What…?” I started to say.
“We think it’s a combination of urine, feces and wine. We need you try and talk to them. You are going to have to yell through the window,” said Fitzpatrick.
I looked at Jackson, not sure what to say. “For the record, I didn’t want you in here, but they said that you are the only one of us who might be able to reason with them.”
I nodded and moved as closely to the window as I could. I took a breath and coached myself: This is not the first time you have had to do this, Laura.
“Hello?” I yelled.
There was no reply. What was I hoping for, a formal introduction?
“My name is Laura Balous, Patton, I mean. I am with a group of survivors, and we only want to talk to you.”
“Get out,” yelled a male voice from the other side of the glass. “Now.”
I looked at Jackson, but he seemed as clueless as to what to say as I was.
“Okay, we will,” I said. “But first, I want to talk to you. We were only passing through when the bombs hit, and the road was blocked. We just want to make it to the Valley. Have you been here since the war?”
Again, there was no reply.
“I know how this must look, us coming in with guns, but we don’t mean you any harm. We are just trying to protect ourselves like you are. I can’t help but notice the smell in here. Is everyone healthy? We have doctors who can help, but I won’t l
et them risk their lives. You need to put down your weapons.”
We could hear arguing, and the voices were getting louder and more agitated. A shot rang out, and in the confines of the concrete room, it reverberated in my head. I ducked back behind the desk, and Jackson threw himself over me.
“You’re okay. Just take a breath. I am calling it. We need to get out of here,” he said.
“Let me try one more time. We don’t know if they will come after us when we retreat. I might be able to reason with them,” I said. I yelled again. “Is everyone alright?”
By now it was quiet, and no one answered.
“Just a little disagreement, we are fine,” said a female voice.
“If you want us to leave we will, but before we do, can we talk for a couple of minutes?” I asked.
“No,” said yet another voice.
“We are going to leave, but if we hear shots, we are comin’ in there, and none of you will get out alive. Understand?” said Jackson.
“Just go,” said the female voice.
Jackson sheltered me as we made our way out of the stench filled tension.
We ran through the snowy field that divided us from the rest of our party.
“Now what?” I asked.
“We go back to the base, and the MT will take care of this,” said Jackson
∞
In the big tent, tensions were almost as high as they were in the winery. The Council sat on one side and the MT on the other, and I stood with Jackson in the middle. The irony of this perfect metaphor didn’t get past me.
“We need to make sure they don’t make their way here to the camp. We know they have weapons, but we have no idea how many of them there are. They are definitely a threat,” said Mason.
“We don’t know that,” said Charlotte. “Maybe they were just afraid of all of you big men with your guns. I would be. They have a right to defend themselves just like we do.”
“My men weren’t even in their uniforms,” argued Mason. “Which was idiotic. Maybe they would have given it up if they knew we were government.”
“Or, they might have opened fire the minute they busted in there,” said Billy. I have never seen him angry. His face was red and he was sweating. I wondered if he was having second thoughts about defending them before.
“Now, we have a group of hot heads who know we are out here,” said Fitzpatrick. “We need to secure the base.”
“We aren’t a base,” I said. “We are a Village with civilians and children. I agree that we need to step up security. We can have all of our security out if all of your, no, our MT are on patrol, too. I will have to call a Village meeting and explain…”
“No way,” said Mason. “No meetings. People will panic. We can take care of this.”
“You have a short memory, dude,” said Sampson, to the surprise of all. “When you came driving up here with all of your bravado, or whatever you call it, Laura told you, everything gets run by the Villagers. Dude, they are smart, and they keep proving that they can make good decisions.”
We were at a stand-off, and I knew that we weren’t going to get any further. “Let’s get this place secured, and then we can figure out where to go from here. No one is to make any independent decisions. Is that understood?”
“Fine, but we need to move soon,” said Mason.
Jackson walked me to the cabin. When the door shut, I melted into his arms. I was so tired of everything. In that moment, I wanted to give up.
“We fight and we fight, for what; to have to turn around and fight more?” I asked him.
“Well, we actually haven’t fought at all, at least not in the traditional way, with weapons. But I know what you mean,” he said.
I rubbed my eye to force the tears to stay put. “I am just so tired. It never stops. We are never going to be safe, so why are we trying to deceive ourselves?”
“Because we want to live, I want to live. I just got the greatest gift left in this shit-hole of a world, and I intend to live for it, for you. How many times have you wanted to give up?”
I leaned my back against the door, and when I felt a knock from the other side I jumped. Now what?
“It’s me,” Mark’s voice passed through the door.
I looked at Jackson, who waved his hand at me to open it.
The second Mark saw Jackson, he visibly seethed. I was definitely not in the mood for this.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
I moved to let him inside, but I didn’t close the door. I figured the two men would act better if they thought they might have an audience, but Mark slammed it shut behind him. So much for that plan.
“Now is not a good time, Mark,” I told him.
“It’s the perfect time. You both need to hear this. Today you made us weak, him weak. Going in there with no uniforms was stupid, and he knows it.”
“Not true,” Jackson said. “We have seen time and time again that the uniform is not trusted any more. They might have shot our heads off if we went in there looking like a threat. As it was, we almost didn’t get out of there alive. Even Laura couldn’t…”
“Wait, Laura was in there?” he asked. I thought he was going to lunge at Jackson’s throat, so I stepped in between the two men with balled up fists.
“Maybe part of the reason she left you is that you never trust her decisions,” said Jackson from behind me.
“Nope, we aren’t doing this. Mark, go,” I told him. He didn’t make a move for several moments, and then his lip twitched upward, and he left with the slam of the door.
“That was fun,” I said.
“Heh, yeah,” he said. “Laura, I want to move in here. I know it’s soon, but I don’t care what people think. I want to spend as much time with you as I can. You just never…”
“Don’t say it,” I cut him off. “And I don’t care what they think, either. Go and get your stuff.”
“I will, but did you know that after a battle I always feel a surge?” said Jackson with a twinkle of lust in his eyes.
“Do tell,” I said. “Wait, you have a meeting in an hour, and I intend to be there for it.”
“Well, then I better get to work.”
∞
The sun had gone down by the start of the meeting. The full security team was there along with the entire MT, minus those out patrolling. It was decided that Jackson was the best person to lead this one.
“We are going to put you on a rotating schedule. When you are down, you are sleeping or eating. We implement the same buddy system we used when Levi went missing. No one goes out of the immediate camp unless they are security or MT. You need to remain armed at all times. We will have a guard around the camp, in case we are attacked. Questions?”
“Colonel Jackson, I have a question,” I said as I stood. “What is expected of the rest of us if there is an attack?”
“The snow caves are still in place, but I doubt that group could get close enough before we took care of them,” he answered. “We will have the MT watching the winery at all times, but we are spread thin.”
“What does that mean, ‘take care of them’?” I asked.
“Well, Laura,” he sounded irritated, “That will be dictated by the situation, but we will do everything we can to keep matters under control.”
The rest of the meeting was about procedures and protocols. We have some pretty significant gun power, not to mention the other military grade weapons.
I was walking back to the cabin when Jackson caught up to me.
“You think I’m handling this wrong?” he asked.
“No, I understand that we need to be extremely cautious; with that said, I wonder how much those people can really do to us. You have to admit, we have an advantage over them,” I said.
“We have no idea who they have with them and what kind of weapons they are in possession of. Two shots were fired when we were there earlier, and neither from us. My guess is that they are a hot mess, but I don’t know that they won’t try coming here to f
ind out what we have; what they can take. I’m not taking any chances.”
“I trust you,” I told him. “What time are you going out?”
“I am on at zero one thirty,” he said.
“Will you help me with something first?” I asked.
∞
I had Bailey in her PJ’s and on her bunk by the time Jackson was back from his latest meeting. I had no idea exactly how to talk to her about our new living arrangements, so I just jumped in.
“Bailey Bug, you know how Jackson and I are close friends now, right?” I said.
“Yeah, he’s your boyfriend, I know,” she said.
“Oh, okay,” I said.
“Let me try,” said Jackson. “Bailey, I love Laura, very much, and I want to be a part of your life, too. Well, we have decided that I am going to live here, if that’s okay with you.”
Her small forehead crinkled. “But I love Mark.”
“Of course you do, but you have a big, big heart with plenty of room to love as many people as you want,” I told her.
“Bailey, I would like to be your friend, if that’s okay,” Jackson said patiently.
“You already are my friend,” she said.
“Well, good, I am glad. And it doesn’t hurt my feelings that you love Mark,” he said. She nodded.
“Okay, I will be back to read to you in a minute,” I told her. “It’s Anne of Green Gables tonight.”
She smiled and held her doll up.
“What?” asked Jackson.
“Kiss her good night,” said Bailey. I knew she was screwing with him to see his reaction, but I didn’t let on. Jackson leaned in and kissed the doll, and she laughed hysterically.
“Funny,” he said with a smile. I walked Jackson to the door. He had meetings until his shift.
“That went way easier than I thought it would,” he said.
“Yeah, she is something else. Jackson, please be careful tonight,” I told him.
“I have everything to live for, darlin’,” he said. “Oh, and I left something for you on the nightstand.”
∞
After the story, I tucked Bailey in and kissed her good night.
“Laura, do you love Jackson now?”
