by Max Wyatt
“With your eagle eyes, there’s no way we could miss it. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
Harper stood staring a long time before following her friend back down to the road. She had a horrible feeling that it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Harper
The gate had been nearly impossible to find. Even with Tara’s instructions, they’d had to go back and forth a couple times on the road before Harper spotted it. And even then she might have missed it, had not the sun reflected on a bit of metal just as they’d passed.
The place was genius. Absolute genius.
Harper stood outside the structure, looking up at the wall that ended far over her head. Like what she’d expect to find outside a castle, possibly with a moat before it, just to make things harder.
She was glad that no one here had thought of adding a moat.
Yet.
Tara was fussing with the callbox, trying to figure out how to alert the people inside, that they were there outside. The longer they waited for someone to let them in, the more nervous Harper got.
“They’re watching us, aren’t they?” Harper asked, rubbing her arms that had come out in goosebumps. “I feel like they’re all in there somewhere, watching us on closed-circuit TV, waiting to see what we do.”
“The power is out,” Tara said automatically but Harper could see from the sudden expression that crossed her face that she’d thought of it too. That a place like this would generate its own power. Entirely off the gird.
Cameras were not only a possibility, but out here at a place like this? A certainty.
“Finn Lawrence sent us here! Please, just ask Finn. I’m Harper Gentry and this is Tara Lewis. Please…find Finn!”
Harper’s shout silenced the wildlife.
And opened the gate.
It looked like something out of a science fiction movie. Harper stumbled back away from the gate, reaching for Tara’s hand almost instinctually. “And the power is on…” Harper murmured, noting that there was nothing manual about this opening. “They seem rather organized.”
The gate had opened fully. Two armed individuals stepped forward, guns lowered and trained on them. Harper’s mouth went dry.
“I’d say so,” Tara said, her expression wry as she let go of Harper’s hand and lifted her own above her head.
It seemed the right thing to do. Harper swallowed hard, and did the same.
***
They’d been allowed to drive in their own vehicle, which surprised Harper a little. They’d taken the time to inspect it though. Taking a head count, she’d assumed, wondering what dangers they thought would be smuggled in.
Or taking count of the assets.
Tara didn’t speak. She drove with her fingers wrapped so tight around the steering wheel that her knuckles had gone white. She’d set her jaw in the way that she did when she was doing something she knew she was going to regret later. She didn’t trust them, Harper realized. Even with Finn being here, Tara didn’t trust this group. It seemed too…organized. Too militant.
But they’d be safe here.
The village itself was like something out of a movie. Small houses tucked in under the trees. Pastured animals right in the middle of the ‘town.’ People outside, like it was a normal day. Some busy, with jobs to do. Others looking a little…lost.
Like us. New here.
They stopped outside a small house, that looked something like a cabin but modernized. Only one story and set back under a pair of tall trees, it would be almost invisible from the air. Heavy shutters were propped open, heavier than she’d expected.
Fallout. Designed for fallout, Harper thought as Tara parked and they got out of the car. The log cabin was just a façade. This was one step above a bunker.
Her stomach knotted, Harper found herself moving closer to Tara again. Not for comfort so much as a desire to protect her from the strange eyes that followed them everywhere. Tara shrank into herself under such scrutiny, more comfortable with machines than people.
Then the door was flung open and Finn was there, shouting welcomes, his eyes full of relief at seeing them. He’d been worried. His hair was standing on end, from that thing he did where he constantly shoved his hands through it when stressed.
Somehow seeing him so normal was all the reassurance Harper needed. Things were okay. The soldiers would fade back into the woodwork. They were here, and for now this was home.
“Finn! I never thought to find you roughing it! That one time you went camping with me and Erik and Dad, you about swore you’d never go near the great outdoors again.”
“A tornado while hunkered down in a tent will do that to you. And I was twelve, Harper. Twelve. Give a kid a break!”
He hadn’t changed, not in any significant ways. Harper looked him up and down, noting that he’d bulked out. He was fitter than she remembered, something that spoke of preparation. Like this place. Like he’d been expecting trouble.
Harper’s eyes narrowed. How long had he known?
But Tara was stepping forward for a handshake that somehow turned into an awkward one-armed hug. Now that she was here, somewhere relatively safe, the strain of the drive was showing on her face. She wavered on her feet, clearly needing a shower and a nap. Not necessarily in that order.
“Why don’t I show you around, and then maybe you guys can wash up or eat or whatever. We’ll unload the car later.”
Leaving the provisions felt wrong, but looking around at the tranquil setting, Harper saw only people going about their own lives. They could have been in a subdivision back in Connecticut on a Saturday morning, for all the lack of panic that this place held. Okay, maybe some faces seemed more tense than others. But here, this was a life that they’d…trained for?
Suddenly Harper didn’t feel like she knew Finn at all.
They were already at the front door, a heavy steel thing that looked like it belonged on a bank vault. Or at the very least a castle, with the metal studs down one side.
“I know it looks a little medieval. It seemed overkill when we put it in, but you wouldn’t believe the rules on the HOA.”
Finn’s apologetic shrug was so familiar it hurt. Yes, Finn was still Finn.
The house was smaller than she’d feared. Open concept was taken very seriously, with living area and kitchen and dining room being all one room, though the amount of cupboards along the walls spoke of room for plenty of storage. The furniture was pure Finn – heavy sectional that looked insanely comfortable, facing a huge television screen. Useless if there wasn’t power.
Only there was. She’d seen it at the gate. “Finn, what is this place?”
Finn paused in showing Tara the kitchen. He was chattering about how the refrigerator worked – propane after all, just like the Amish – and looked up. Several expressions crossed his face, settling on tired resignation.
“It was an experiment. That kind of…escalated.” He motioned them to the sectional. Harper sank down gratefully, finding it every bit as comfortable as she’d thought it would be.
He explained about college, about his friends. Tara was wide-eyed through it all. Harper had heard some of it from Erik over the years. Some was brand new. This was definitely well beyond, “Finn got some place up in the woods. For vacations.”
Tara was yawning before he was done explaining. Finally Harper kind of nudged his leg with her foot, nodding in Tara’s direction. She’d fallen asleep.
“Here, let me show you the rest. Maybe she’d like to lay down.”
Tara peeked into the two bedrooms. The first they looked into held two sets of bunk beds with bare mattresses and pillows. The other room held the same.
“It’s a little like going away to camp,” Harper said, rummaging in the hall closet for bedding and finding packages still in their plastic, waiting to be unwrapped. “It’s not quite what I expected.”
“I was going to convert one of the rooms to a more normal bedroom, something with a queen
at least, but never got around to it. Back when they were building they asked at some point if I wanted the standard configuration and I said yes, never imagining they were talking about a bunker.”
His tone was apologetic, and he ducked his head, clearly awkward with the conversation.
“Well, seeing as the rooms are the same, why don’t you help me make up a bed for Tara. She’s had a hard time of it.”
He grabbed a second set of sheets and followed her. “What about you, Harper? I half expected you to be hiding under the back seat by the time you got here.”
“If you’re trying to be funny, Finn, you’re not.” She was starting to remember the reasons she’d broken up with him in the first place. They’d never really gotten past the fact that she had been something of a…crybaby. In his mind, she’d never grown up.
“I’m sorry, I just…”
She pushed open the bedroom door and grabbed a pillow off the first bed, flinging it hard at his chest. “Why don’t you do the pillowcases while I get the rest? Do you have blankets?”
“Look in the closet. I remember seeing some stacked there.”
They worked in silence, making the beds. Harper chose the top bunk, mostly because she remembered Finn hated heights and she wanted to show him up. It was childish, but she didn’t really care at this point.
“So what happened out there…?” he asked, as he slipped a pillowcase on the second pillow.
“Probably about what you went through. Chaos. Fights. People dying. Crazy dog. You know, the usual end of the world stuff. You?”
He shook his head. “You make it sound…easy.”
“It wasn’t. I was scared. I cried. Is that what you want to hear?” She was facing him, hands on her hips, really looking at him for the first time since they’d arrived. “I’ll probably still cry. I’m scared, Finn. But I’m going to fight. I’m going to survive this. And so will Tara. So if you’ve got some all-fired noble white knight thing going on, you can knock it off now. We’re fine.”
“Guys? Much as I hate to interrupt…the TV came on. There’s some kind of announcement? Finn? Who is Daniel?”
They turned as one to the door. Tara leaned against the doorjamb, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
Harper sprang forward, grabbing Tara’s arm and leading her to the nearest bed. “You need rest…here…we’ll go see what’s going on, okay?”
Tara acquiesced easily enough. She tumbled down on the blankets and went right back to sleep. Harper turned to find that Finn had already disappeared.
Sure enough, the TV was on in the living room. It was such a normal looking thing, that for a moment it was easy to forget everything they had been through, had seen and done in the last days. Some man was talking, a dark-skinned man with hair cropped close to his head. His dark eyes behind glasses stared so intently into the camera you could almost believe that he was looking right into their home.
“Who…?” she asked, coming to stand next to Finn who stood behind the sectional, watching with no expression at all on his face.
“Daniel.”
“I repeat, there will be a meeting at the Community Center at 1600. This is required. Every resident much be in attendance, no exceptions. Thank you.”
With that the screen went black.
“How…?”
“We’re mostly solar powered, but I think we have some wind turbines up on the ridge somewhere though you’d have to come in back through the wilderness to see them. They set up a network, saying communication is important.”
“So we can get on the internet?” she asked reaching for her phone.
“It’s not there…not in any way you can access it. Most phone servers are down.” Finn’s gaze shifted to the blackened TV screen. “The dark net though…I think Daniel has been on there. He used to be something of a hacker…he knows something.”
“What do you mean?”
“They were ready. This whole place was ready. The people here aren’t tin-foil hat survivalists. They’re professionals. Doctors. Lawyers. CEOs. But take a look at this place.” He turned to look at her. His eyes were troubled. “They knew it was coming.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Harper
1600 hours. 4:00pm to those of non-military bearing. Which according to Finn was everyone there. In fact, that was the one universal – no one there was military, and in fact Finn was the closest thing they had to a government connection, outside of a couple of postal workers and one woman who’d managed a library back in Ohio.
Tara had come back to life after a couple hours of sleep. A shower and hot food had restored everyone’s faith in humanity – or at least a measure of faith in whatever powers kept things like that running. It was amazing what a bowl of ramen could do.
“We’re still tapping into the reservoir, though I’ve heard the connection is tenuous and might still get cut off. We’ll save the water bottles, as we might want them later. I wouldn’t drink anything out of the tap without boiling it first. There’s water treatment tablets in the kitchen so you don’t have to worry about bleach for drinking or cooking with for the time being.”
Finn had said it all so casually, like it was nothing. Harper had stayed silent, thinking that this man who’d never camped - with one notable exception - as a boy, could talk so casually about things like water treatment. It didn’t mesh with the picture she had of him. She wondered how many other things had changed about him. It was intriguing, this new Finn. And a little bit scary too.
The propane refrigerator was still a mystery – and seemed an unnecessary failsafe when they had power. She’d said as much while Tara had slept and was still thinking about Finn’s response.
“It wouldn’t work in a nuclear winter. If there’s no sun, there’s no power. There’s no telling what would happen with the wind turbines. We have propane tanks buried underground. The appliances run off them.”
Nuclear winter?
Despite the warm air, Harper felt chilly. Would the world truly end? As in really truly end end? And then what would they do? Hole up in their tiny houses with their endless supplies and…what? Wait for the world to be habitable again? Wasn’t that supposed to take years? She didn’t ask. She didn’t want to ask. The world wasn’t going to end. It was just…offline for a time.
The mood of the other residents seemed to reflect a similar unease. There was no relaxed chatter as they headed for the building in the center of the settlement. Occasionally someone nodded at Finn as they walked by, but they were moving too fast to really be open for conversation. Maybe that was part of Finn’s plan. His long stride threatened to leave Tara and Harper behind more than once. By the time they got to the Community Center, Harper was practically running to keep up.
They came in in the midst of an argument.
“You had no right to call that meeting! Much as you think you are, you’re not in charge here!”
A blond man towered over Daniel, his beard positively bristling with anger, as though it was a small animal set to launch itself at the smaller man.
“Someone had to, Marsden. We have people talking about bolting for Canada. Canada! As though they’d even let us in? Besides, what is this place if not a refuge built for exactly this crisis? Our only chance is to stay right here. All of us.”
A crowd was forming around the combatants and for a moment Harper wondered if the men would come to blows. She saw Finn pushing himself into the center, because of course Finn would. Wherever there was trouble, there too would be Finn.
“Daniel?” Tara asked in a whisper, nodding in the direction of the dark-haired man.
Harper nodded. She’d filled in Tara when she’d woken, though she knew so little herself. She nudged Tara to take one of the metal folding chairs near the back. Tara moved in several and sat. Harper frowning a little, joined her.
Others drifted in. The argument in the center of the room was being overridden by other voices. Too many people were talking. It had all become just so much noise.
�
��Wait a minute!” It was Finn’s voice heard over the crowd. “Why don’t we all sit down and talk this over like adults. Please…everyone…find a seat.”
Amazingly the crowd began to move. Seats filled. Voices quieted. Somewhere a baby cried and was shushed. When everyone was seated there was only Finn, Daniel and Marsden standing in the center of the room. Marsden looked from one to the other and backed off noticeably, but stayed close, Harper noted. Waiting for trouble? Or waiting to cause it?
“We need to plan. Decide our next course of action!” Daniel said without preamble, not waiting for the meeting to be called to order.
“Wait a second, Daniel. There’s a point of order that needs to be decided.”
“Point of order? In case you haven’t noticed, the United States as we know it no longer exists!”
“Yeah!” shouted a man from the crowd. “It’s time to get out of here. It was a mistake to build so close to Washington to begin with. We need to go to Canada!”
“Canada!”
There were several voices echoing the first. Chaos reigned.
“And how do you propose to get there?” Harper shouted, scrambling to her feet before she’d even thought through what she was going to say. “I just came in from Connecticut and you’re not going to find food or supplies. And there’s no guarantees the further north you go.”
Tasha tugged at Harper’s shirt, urging her to sit down.
“What right do you have to say anything? Aren’t you one of Finn’s little guests?” Daniel spoke with a sneer, arms crossed. Harper suddenly realized how unfriendly some of the looks were that she was getting.
She shook off Tara’s hand and felt her hands ball into fists. “Just because I’m new here doesn’t mean I don’t have a right to speak.”
“What’s your reasoning?” Daniel’s eyes bored into hers.
“The fact that from what I see, everyone here is supposed to have an equal say. I brought in my own supplies. So did Tara. We might be new, but we’re just as valuable as anyone else here—”
