She shook her head. “No.”
“Oh, c’mon, it will be fine. It’ll be good to have things around you’re familiar with,” Tess said and began to walk towards Meagan’s old house, three doors down from hers.
“No!” Meagan yelled.
Tess stopped, turned and looked at her.
“No, we can’t. Mommy and Daddy are there.”
This said it all for Tess. Not wanting to waste another minute, she headed directly for the larger house next to hers. While size was important, she prayed the condition of it was good enough.
Devin ran up beside her and asked, “Where are you going?”
“This house will be better, larger,” she said as she swiftly traversed the abandoned cars in the driveway. “Please get the door,” she ordered Devin.
While Tess and Devin were making their way to the house, Brianna watched with curiosity from the hatch of the Humvee.
The boys who had remained in the street only gave them glances, as their attention was still on eating the MREs.
Devin raced up the long set of stairs and stopped just outside the front door. It too had been damaged. The handle was broken off with part of the wood cracked off near the deadbolt, a clear sign that someone had kicked it in. He pushed it open to find a scene similar to Tess’s house. Old personal items were broken and strewn on the floor, but to his surprise upon entering, it was in better shape overall. He swiftly cleared each room and came back to the front to find Tess waiting for his okay.
“It’s clear. The second bedroom on the left looks perfect,” he said, motioning down the long hallway.
She rushed past him. Entering the room, she saw exactly what he meant. The bedroom was painted pink and had posters of kittens and rainbows on the walls. She remembered the girl who lived here but only in passing.
Tess carefully set Melody on the bed, but just before she pulled the sheets over her, she stopped.
“Devin, get me some clean water, soap, a hand towel and Advil!”
Devin raced out of the condo.
“Sweetie, find me some pajamas in the drawer there,” Tess ordered Meagan.
“Here,” Meagan said, handing her a long nightgown with a princess embossed on the front.
“Perfect,” Tess said. She began to undress Melody. As she removed the filthy clothing, she was shocked by Melody’s physical condition and lack of hygiene.
Just as she removed and tossed the last piece of clothing, Devin entered the room with everything he was instructed to get.
“How’s she doing?” he asked.
Tess didn’t answer for fear of concerning Meagan; she looked at Devin and grimaced.
“What can I do to help?” Devin asked.
She looked again at Devin and said, “Settle in. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Devin nodded and left the room.
Tess gently closed the bedroom door and walked into the living room, a look of pleasant surprise on her face to find it clean and tidy. In the hour it had taken her to wash and attend to Melody’s wound, Brianna had cleaned the condo.
“Looks great,” Tess exclaimed.
“I had help,” Brianna said, pointing to Meagan.
“And look at you, such a beauty,” Tess remarked on Meagan’s appearance.
“Where’s Dev?” Tess asked.
“Out front on watch,” Brianna answered.
Tess walked towards the door but stopped for a moment to give Meagan a hug.
The intimate touch from another person melted Meagan, who firmly returned the embrace. She whispered into Tess’s ear, “Thank you.”
Tess whispered back, “You’re welcome, sweetie.”
She gave her another hug and exited the room.
Sitting like a hawk on a power line scanning the area was Devin with his AR-15 rifle across his lap. The afternoon sun was hitting him at an angle, casting a long shadow against the condo. Shielding his eyes from the bright sun, Devin wore an old New England Patriots hat he had found weeks before. Devin’s dark hair was the longest it had ever been in his adult life. From underneath the hat, it curled and jutted out. He had thought about cutting it, but he just didn’t care. This same disregard even went for his facial hair, which had now grown a solid quarter inch. It was lighter than his head hair and had patches of gray throughout.
Tess found his new, rougher look more attractive than the scared and clean-shaven man she had found in Illinois.
“All tucked in. Hopefully, she’ll do better now that she’s out of that shit hole,” Tess said.
Devin looked up, grinned and said, “I was going to ask earlier, but it just seemed the timing was off, but I’m assuming finding these girls changes our schedule?”
“Scoot over,” Tess said.
Devin slid over and Tess took a seat next to him on the wooden step.
“Yes, the plan has changed. Not my intention, obviously, but how could I leave these little girls?”
“I’m not debating at all. It would be inhuman for you or anyone to leave them in the hands of the lord of the flies.”
“Lord of the flies?” Tess asked.
He cocked his head and asked, “You’ve never heard of the book Lord of the Flies?”
“Should I have?”
“How old are you again?”
“Enough, what is it?”
“So what did you guys read your junior or senior year in American Lit?”
“Whatever.”
“Lord of the Flies was a fictional book about a group of boys stranded on an island. They created a society of sorts, and soon it turned violent and barbaric.”
“Now I understand.”
“What the hell was that earlier today, anyway?”
“In regards to what?”
“Giving them food and trying to negotiate with Hannibal Lecter’s son.”
“That one I get.” She laughed. “That, my friend, is called taking care of a situation before it can go badly.”
“You know and I know those boys are bad news.”
“You’re right, but I don’t think they’re evil like the fucking cannibals we dealt with,” Tess snapped back.
“I’m not making this up, but I watched a program about the apocalypse on the Discovery Channel or maybe it was the History Channel. Regardless, they had experts on discussing people’s reactions to living in the exact world we have now. Anyway, when the topic turned to children, all the experts agreed that some of the most ruthless killers in situations like this are children.”
“So I assume you would have started shooting?” Tess challenged.
“I mean, looking at it now, no, but then yes, you have the advantage of hindsight to validate your position.”
Tess calmly said, “You’re right about those boys. They probably meant to do us harm, but I know that sometimes people just need things. I gave it to them; they were distracted by it. I also showed I wasn’t afraid of them. That confidence was disarming for them, and of course, you had a bead on them the whole time. Will those boys eventually hurt other people? Yes, but it’s not my business until it’s my business.”
“What’s your plan now? Those kids are our business since they’re our neighbors,” Devin said as he stared at the house the kids resided in across the street.
“Lucky we have you to protect us from a ten-year-old and his gang of second graders,” Tess joked and patted his leg.
“Glad to see you’re taking this seriously.”
“Oh, I am, but there’s fucking dangerous situations everywhere. At least I know this town.”
“I disagree; you don’t know this town anymore.”
Tess was about to counter but paused to think about what he said. It took only a few moments for it to sink in that he was right. She knew the streets, the lay of the land, but she didn’t know the dynamics of who was out there or what they were dealing with.
“I swear, you guys are sounding more and more like my parents, always squabbling. Ever since that final dinner at Daryl’s you’v
e been feisty, Tess,” Brianna said.
Tess and Devin looked back and saw Brianna standing behind the screen door.
“I agree,” Devin said.
“And you, you’ve been mister trigger-happy,” Brianna remarked to Devin.
“Just trying to keep us safe,” Devin said, defending his recent actions.
“Brianna has that right; what about the guy at the mall outside Salem?”
“He was coming at us fast, and I didn’t know if he had a weapon.”
“Ha.” Tess laughed. “He was limping, not coming at us fast, and he was like eighty years old.” Tess said, referring to a situation the trio had encountered a few days back.
“Both you two can go fuck yourselves. I only shot him because he refused to listen to my commands to stop.”
“Because the old man’s battery was dead in his hearing aid,” Tess joked.
Brianna started to laugh loudly.
“Screw you two, really,” Devin said.
Brianna opened the door and stepped out. She looked at the lapping waves on the beach.
Tess turned and looked at the sulking Devin. She patted his leg and said, “Cheer up. We’re just busting your balls.”
“I can’t tell sometimes.”
Tess faced Brianna and said, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Brianna hesitated answering; she looked longingly towards the beach. The sun’s rays were shimmering off the water. She gasped loudly and lamented, “I really want to jump in the water.”
“Have you ever been to the ocean before?”
“No.”
Tess looked at Devin, winked and said, “Then you should go for a quick dip.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, why not?” Devin agreed.
Brianna’s face lit up. “Let me go see if I can find a bathing suit.” She flung the door open and disappeared inside.
“You go with her. I’ll hold the fort down,” Devin said.
“Holler if Melody wakes up,” Tess said, and then went inside to gather her belongings for the beach excursion.
Brianna fell onto the sand, giggling; a large toothy grin graced her face.
A large shadow cast over her. “Was that fun?” Tess asked.
“Oh my God, you have no idea. I’ve always wanted to swim in the ocean. It was amazing, thank you,” she said, then sat up and gazed at the seemingly endless sea.
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Tess said.
“I wish I could feel like this all the time.”
“I wish we all could.”
“I’m sorry about your house. Was it really messed up?” Brianna asked.
“Yeah, but I found what we came for.”
“I’m so sorry I forgot to ask. With those boys, Meagan, Melody, all of it, I didn’t…”
“Nothing to apologize for.”
“When do we leave?”
“Not sure. Here, need a towel?”
Brianna took the towel and began to dry off her long blonde hair. The joy she felt inside from this brief respite was priceless, and she was happy to hear they would be staying put for a bit. Life on the road was hard and unpredictable. She understood there were no guarantees, but having a temporary home gave her a small sense of security.
“So you knew the girls before?”
“Yes.”
“What happens now?”
Tess sat on the damp sand and leaned back onto her elbows. She cocked her head and stared at the deep blue sky above. “First thing we need to do is make sure Melody gets better. When she is, we make for Denver.”
“Never been there.”
“You’ve never been anywhere, have you?”
“Nope, what we’ve done is the most I’ve ever traveled in my life. I just wish I could have seen all of it under different circumstances.”
“You and me both.’
Their short and peaceful break was shattered when they heard Devin hollering, “Tess, come here now!”
They both sprinted for the house. When they reached the beach front of the house, they discovered the reason for Devin’s alarming call. Alex and his entourage were there.
“Lady, we came to talk,” Alex said sternly.
Tess almost burst out in a fit of laughter seeing Alex act tough and formidable. She knew he couldn’t be trusted and that he had the potential for being deadly, but seeing a ten-year-old trying to intimidate an armed adult was somewhat comical to her.
“It’s a free country. Go ahead,” Devin said.
“We need more food,” Alex answered.
“I think the closest store…” Devin said but was interrupted by Tess.
“We can’t spare anymore right now, but—”
“Give us more food,” Alex barked.
“If you’ll let me finish, please,” Tess chided him. “I propose tomorrow we, you and me, go looking for food.”
“No.”
“If you want more food, you’re going to have to go find it,” Tess lectured.
“No.”
“I’m not going to argue with a ten-year-old.”
“I’m eleven.”
“Whatever.” Devin smirked.
“Alex, we can’t spare any, and in fact, we also need to go scavenge. Listen, there has to be plenty of food around here. There’s no way you hit every one of the thousands of homes on Topsail Island.”
“The food is all gone,” Alex answered.
“You know this how?”
Alex lowered his head and winced. The fact he’d have to show weakness ate at his immature mind, but he resisted telling her the truth. “Because we know.”
Tess stepped towards him and said to another boy, “What is it? We can help, but we can’t if we don’t know what’s going on.”
The boy, not a day over eight, replied nervously, “The men told us.”
Alex elbowed the boy hard and snapped at him, “Shut up!”
“What men? Alex, just tell us; we can help you,” Tess urged.
Alex kept his head lowered and mumbled something unintelligible.
“Tess, this is useless. The kid’s a retard!” Devin blurted out.
Alex lifted his head and shot Devin a nasty look.
Tess took a couple steps closer. Now she was within arm’s length of Alex, who looked anxious about her proximity to him.
“Alex, we can’t give you any more food, but we can help you get more. Please let us help you.”
After an uncomfortable pause, Alex lifted his head and confided in her. He told her that a group of men, approximately a dozen, had come through several times. They had gone door to door scavenging food. He told her about the older teenage kids that had been with them from the start and how the men had taken them away.
“How many did they take?” Tess asked.
“Four.”
“Anything else?”
“They told us not to go anywhere. We aren’t allowed to scavenge. They took what food we had and said this was their territory. They told us to stay put, that if we went scavenging, it was the same as stealing from them.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Two weeks ago.”
Tess looked at Devin. His only response was a raised eyebrow.
“How can you help us? Those men were mean. I don’t want them to come back and hurt us.”
“We will take care of you. We’ll give you each an MRE for tonight, but tomorrow we go looking for food,” Tess said, her tone lowered. She reached out and rubbed Alex’s shoulder. This time he didn’t flinch.
He nodded and said, “Okay.”
“Devin, you heard the deal. Get these boys another box of MREs,” she said and turned back to Alex. “Tomorrow we go out and find some food.”
“What if they come back?” Alex asked.
“Well, it’s an easy solution. If they come back, we’ll kill them,” Tess replied.
Outside Livermore, Colorado
As she sat rubbing her belly, the soft wind gently blew Lori’s thick brown hair. Once again she
found herself enjoying the old wooden rocker on the front porch of their new home. She and Travis had discovered the abandoned ranch house following their narrow escape from Horton and his minions at the Denver International Airport. Her afternoons on the porch were the only moments she felt any peace and she was grateful for them. She had given up on getting any real sleep; thankfully the house not only provided sanctuary but came fully stocked with food, water, medicines, firearms and melatonin, a natural sleep aid, which she took regularly to help her get what little sleep she could. When she did close her eyes and drift away, she would soon be met with recurring nightmares.
Travis had been a Godsend for her, for without him she didn’t think she and her unborn baby would have survived. Immediately upon finding the house, he set to making it perfect for her. The first task was securing it as best he could. He created a safe room and stocked it just in case Horton or other undesirables came knocking. His inventory of the stores came back positive, but they weren’t infinite. They’d be able to survive for approximately nine months; then they’d have to resupply. Another positive of the property they came into possession of was that the previous occupants had a garden and a large supply of seeds. By Travis’s estimates, the house sat on approximately ten acres; this was a rough count as he walked the fenced property. On these ten acres there was the main ranch house, a single-level three-thousand-square-foot wood-sided house; the outbuildings included a two-thousand-square-foot barn and two smaller sheds. The metal barn was full of equipment, including a tractor, three quads, three snowmobiles, countless tools and other items that could come in handy. It was like they had hit the lottery when they stumbled upon the place. Even the men’s clothing they had found fit him properly, allowing him to get rid of his Marine uniform. However, Lori was realistic and knew what good fortune they had would not last forever.
The Death Trilogy (Book 2): The Death: Eradicate Page 3
