Hella Rises: Dawnland

by Karen Carr

  I was miffed at the woman for not saying thank you, but I chalked that up to her semi-demented state. I heard through the others in town that they had taken a small shack at the other side of downtown, on East Street. Hipslow agreed to let them have it and a golf cart if Hank-Frank did some dental work for the town.

  On occasion, a helicopter from Mace Duce’s land would fly overhead, always south. I told Hipslow about what we saw, the smoke and he had sent a man down, but he hadn’t returned. I had been practicing helo flying with the Professor every day, but Hipslow had forbidden me to leave the area until I was able to fly on my own. I obeyed the restriction. I knew that Hipslow was nervous about Mace Duce. We all knew he was planning something, we just didn’t know what.

  Since I had begun my golf cart rounds, everyone was appearing with golf carts. They were the new ride of the times, mostly because of their great gas mileage and the fact that nobody wanted to drive very far. Our whole world had been condensed down to a mile and a half radius.

  While initially eighty nine people seemed like a lot, I became familiar with most people’s faces right away. When I was on my rounds, they often stopped to say hi or walk next to me in the cart. Zeke accompanied me for the first couple of days, but then Hipslow enlisted his help in a secret security project. With Harper in school in the morning, I was left to travel on my own.

  After I was done with my rounds, and ate several different breakfasts, I went to take my flying lessons. The Professor had written down the starting routine for me, and I had spent the last few nights memorizing it. I was starting it by myself today.

  “You ready, Hella?” the Professor called out when I got out of my golf cart.

  “You bet,” I said.

  I hopped in the helicopter, on the left side, and began my check. I ran through all the checks, turned the fuel boost and alternator on, made sure the rotors were clear and engaged the alternator before the Professor had even buckled his seat belt.

  “Slow down, Hella,” the Professor said after he strapped himself in. “When you go too fast, you make mistakes.”

  I stretched my fingers. “I’m sorry, Professor. I’m just excited. Did I do it right?”

  The Professor studied the gauges. “So far, continue.”

  I checked the clutch, set the engine to 2500 RPMs, checked the tip path, the Magnetos, the throttle, flight instruments and engine instruments. “How am I doing?”

  “You forgot to set your manifold pressure.” The Professor tapped the gauge.

  “Crap,” I said. I thought I had it. I finished the fuel boost and circuit breakers and did one last check to make sure nothing was in my way. “I’m ready.”

  “Go for it,” the Professor said. “We’re going to practice more pirouettes.”

  I started the ultralight and took us up fifteen feet from the ground. It had taken me hours to get used to the sensitive controls of the Hughes. The Professor told me that was because it was so old and the one-seaters were newer models and easier to maneuver. I couldn’t wait to try my own ride.

  We spent the next two hours taking off, pirouetting, hovering square inward and outward, and landing again. After days of up and down and round and round, my arm muscles were beginning to feel it. Huck had been watching us for a few minutes when the Professor called it quits. My sore muscles were relieved and so was my ego. I didn’t like rehearsing in front of somebody, especially Huck.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked Huck after I had performed my instrument checks and turned off the Hughes.

  Huck smiled, but before he could answer the Professor walked over to him.

  The Professor tapped Huck on the shoulder. “Give me an hour to refuel and break for lunch and then we can start.”

  “Start what?” I asked, turning suspiciously to Huck.

  Huck grinned. “Start my lessons.”

  “You, too?” I asked.

  Huck grinned. “Someone has to keep up with you. Zeke gets you on the ground, I get you in the air. Besides, I miss riding my bike and the Professor claims this is much better.”

  “Yea, there are no doors.” I pointed to the openings in the Hughes. “Make a big turn, you’ll fall out if you’re not buckled in.”

  “Sounds perfect,” Huck said, his grin increasing mischievously.

  “Speaking of Zeke, what is his secret mission?” I asked.

  Huck stepped closer to me. “Some of Hipslow’s men found a recently abandoned campsite in the woods. Galen and Zeke went to check it out. They are afraid Mace is close.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course he’s close, Huck. He’s in Haverlyn Village, that’s only fifteen miles away. I think about that every minute and second of the day.”

  “I’m sorry, Hella.” Huck squeezed my arm. “I’ve got something for you, it’s from Hipslow.”

  Huck handed me a small box. I opened it. There was a key inside. I pulled it out and a card with an address.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Your new house,” Huck said. “At least for the time being. Hipslow thought you would be more comfortable out of the gym and since they’ve almost finished the walls, Hipslow thought it would be safe.

  I didn’t recognize the street. “Where is it?”

  “It is a few blocks from here behind the church.” Huck pointed. “Can I drive you?”

  “Sure.” I handed Huck the key to the cart.

  We got in the cart and he drove us out of the field and then down the street. Having Huck drive was relaxing. I had been doing all the driving and it was nice to sit back and relax. It reminded me of the time he drove his bike and I sat behind him. I closed my eyes and felt the wind on my face, trying to remember the first days with him in Haverlyn Village, driving around Oval Park Place.

  We stopped in front of a large old Victorian that looked like it hadn’t been lived in in years. The yard was overgrown, and not even from the most likely fact that the caretakers were gone. The bushes were grown over the stone wall, the multiple steps leading up to the front yard were crumbling and overgrown with grass and vines creeping across the sidewalk leading to the front of the house.

  “What do you think?” Huck asked.

  “It looks like a ghost house.”

  Huck drove the golf cart behind a rickety old shed from the house across the street. The house was missing, the shed was the only thing left. We walked back across the street to my new house and I stepped up the walkway.

  Huck caught my elbow as I almost tripped on a crack. “It’s supposed to. We don’t want anyone to know where you live. This one looks abandoned, and we want to keep it that way, so don’t get any gardening ideas.”

  Several wide and low oaks mixed with tall cedars, making the front of the house almost invisible from the road. They were left to grow, reaching their long branches into the path, forcing me to duck under their bows as I made my way down it. I crunched through the piles of leaves from the ancient trees, and kicked up a bunch of them in excitement.

  “I love it,” I said. I did. I loved the naturalness of it. The yard had slender trees that were blooming white, pink and purple flowers. The front porch was grand, held up by columns with flaking paint and rotting wood. An old rocking chair still sat on the porch, slowly moving back and forth in the breeze. “This place is totally haunted.”

  Huck chuckled as he escorted me up the creaky steps to the front door. “Well, don’t just stand there, open it.”

  I fumbled with the key and opened the door with shaking hands. I looked inside, but my feet didn’t want to move.

  “What’s wrong, Hella?” Huck asked.

  “This is someone else’s house, Huck. I don’t feel right living in it. This is different than Haverlyn Village. There I had time to adjust.”

  He touched my hair and gave me a side hug. “No one has lived in this house for years, Hella. Hipslow told me the woman who owned it died and has no living relatives. We thought it better this way, just in case anyone comes back.”

  Huck nudged me f
orward, trying to get me through the door, but I dug my heels in on the porch. “It’s just temporary, right?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Huck said. “Anything to get you inside.”

  “Why’s that?” I asked. But, looking at Huck, it was all over his face. The emotions of being separated from each other for months, the lust, the pain, the sorrow. I broke down and stepped across the threshold. Huck followed me, touching my rear as he closed the door behind us.

  “We’re alone,” Huck said. His voice was husky.

  “Great, let’s start talking,” I said. I tried to avoid the smoke coming from his eyes. “Not much in renovations.” The hall we had entered was just as shabby as the house, with peeling paint and worn out floorboards. The stairs to the second floor were tilted and the bannister was missing parts of its rails. “But, I still love it. Can we see the rest?”

  I made a mistake and turned toward Huck, who was right next to me. Our faces ended up touching.

  “This first,” Huck said. He pressed his body against mine and kissed me. “I’m sorry, Hella, I can’t resist you.”

  “Don’t stop,” I said, pressing my mouth against his.

  He crushed me against the door and then brought me to the stairs. We fell into the hard, wooden stairs in our embrace.

  “I love you, Hella,” Huck said. “You, and only you.”

  Huck’s words made my heart melt. “I love you, too, Huck. I didn’t think. Zeke was because of the virus. I thought he was my perfect match, because he’s immune and now you are too.”

  “I am too, so I am safe from whatever you give me, including a bite.” Huck bit my ear and then he kissed my neck, my shoulder and my forearm. He pulled my shirt from my shoulder and kissed my bra.

  “Stop,” I whispered.

  He murmured something and then pulled away from me. “I want to show you upstairs. Come on.”

  I took Huck’s extended hand, and we made our way up the stairs. I half-expected to fall through the steps, but was surprised to find they were solid underfoot. The second floor landing was narrow and long, extending in a long corridor to the back of the house. Several doors lined each side.

  “Which one do we choose?” I asked.

  “Pick one,” Huck said.

  I opened the first door and was greeted by a musty smell. Trash, crumbled up paper and old bottles of booze, was piled in one corner while an old mattress rested in the other.

  “Yuck. I hope Hipslow doesn’t expect me to sleep there.”

  “It’s a decoy,” Huck said. He closed the door, coming breathtakingly close to me. “This way.” I followed Huck down the length of the hall, to the far door on the right. Huck paused. “Close your eyes.”

  “Really, Huck?” I smirked.

  “Yea, come on. Let me have some fun.” He half-grinned at me.

  “OK, fine.” I closed my eyes and heard him open the door. “Can I open them?”

  “No.” Huck’s hands covered my eyes from the rear and he pressed his body against my back, ushering me through the threshold. I smelled lavender mixed with roses. Huck took his hands away. “Your suite, madam.”

  I opened my eyes and saw a large bedroom. The first thing I saw was a giant bed with a fluffy white comforter on it and a canopy overhead. The canopy was framed in lace curtains and the window was opened, so they blew in the breeze. The room was also filled with flowers. A beautiful writing desk was arranged with stationary and a pen. A comfortable rocking chair was placed in front of the window, which also had a padded bench seat.

  I turned to Huck. He was grinning from ear to ear. “It’s the bedroom of my dreams. Thank you.”

  “No, thank you.” Huck parted the curtains and pulled me down on the bed. “God, I want you,” he whispered.

  “You can’t have me, Huck.” I pushed him away and sat up on the bed. “I’m not ready.”

  He looked hurt, but not angry. “I can’t resist you.” He grabbed my belt buckle and pulled me near him, pressing his body on top of mine. He pushed my hair from my face and stared into my eyes, waiting for me to reciprocate his advances, but I turned my head.

  “I’ll wait,” Huck said. He got up from the bed and sat in the rocker in front of the window.

  I watched him for a while before I spoke. He sat intently, waiting for me to say or do something, all the while remaining still and silent. “What about Ana?” I finally asked. “Harper saw you kissing her.”

  He heaved a sigh. “I know you don’t trust her, and neither do I. I don’t trust anyone except you, Zeke, the Professor and your friends Stan and Saudah.”

  “What about Zora and Boa?” I asked, intrigued that he didn’t trust Ana, not wanting to call too much attention to it.

  “Zora and Boa, the Reverend, they are happy here,” Huck said.

  “That makes them untrustworthy?” I asked.

  Huck stared at me for a long time. “They might not want to leave if we have to.”

  “And Ana wants to stay, too?” I asked.

  Huck frowned. “Ana is untrustworthy for other reasons, all the ones you mentioned. I never trusted her, Hella. But, I wanted her to trust me, and she does. Or, she did. She’s seen the way I look at you.” Huck cast his eyes over mine and then out the window, like he was resisting the urge to join me on the bed again.

  “How come you didn’t tell me before?” I asked.

  “Privacy, Hella,” Huck said. “It’s hard to find around here. I can’t tell you everything now, either. It is best you don’t know so that you won’t say too much. Just know we’re going to have to leave soon. Enjoy your bedroom while you can.”

  “Do you trust Hipslow?” I asked.

  Huck looked at me, and then nodded. “I believe he will do the right thing. He gave us this house. He has ideas that make sense. He never thought you would stay long.”

  “What ideas? Have you been meeting with him in private?” I asked.

  Huck stepped quickly from the rocker to the bed and pressed his cold hands against my cheeks while he glided his body under mine. “Hella, don’t over react. You can’t know everything.”

  “Overreact? Can I know something? A little bit? This is my life after all.” I pressed my lips together when he tried to kiss me.

  Huck pulled his mouth away from mine. “Know that I love you. I truly, deeply, will not let anything happen to you ever, love you and so does Zeke in his own way.”

  “Great, thanks. You had to throw Zeke’s name in there?” Zeke was the last person I wanted to pop into memory at the moment, especially feeling Huck’s hard presence against my thigh.

  “I had to, yes,” Huck said. “We had a talk. He’s going to let you go.”

  Let me go? “Like he had me? So, now you have me like some kind of hot potato?”

  Huck nudged me with his elbow. “Hella, come on. Would you stop it? I don’t want to fight.” He sat down next to me, making sure we were no longer touching.

  “I don’t want to fight either,” I said.

  Huck stood up. “I’ve got to go to my flying lesson. Will you be alright here?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Huck looked out the window. “I’ll need to move your cart. We can’t have it parked out front. It will draw too much attention.”

  I threw him the keys. “Take it with you. I’ll walk up to the church later. I have to fix up my classroom. The one I’ll never get to teach in.”

  “See you,” Huck said. He walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

  I laid back down on the comfortable bed and rested my head on the down pillow, gazing out of the window. Here I was, staring at the bedroom of my childhood dreams, knowing I would have to leave it. Did I have a few day or weeks left in this town? Why was my future being planned without me? It frustrated me to know nothing about what was going to happen, but not enough to keep me awake.

  Chapter 11

  I woke up to the sun shining through the large windows directly into my eyes. It was half way down in the sky, in between noon and
nightfall. My grumbling stomach told me that I had missed lunch time, so I decided to see if they had left me any food in the kitchen, or if there even was a kitchen. I hadn’t explored the rest of the house but before I did anything I wanted to wash my face.

  I went to the bathroom to try the faucets. Old houses like this had wells, and if the solar installers were able to fix me up with some power, I’d have plumbing. Sure enough, after a cough and a sputter, brownish red water came rushing out of the tap in the sink. I sat on the bathtub waiting for it to run clear, which didn’t take long. It was wet and cold, but it felt great splashed against my face.

  Next, I went downstairs and walked through the dining room, where an old farm table still stood covered in dust and dilapidated chairs lined the far wall. None of them looked good enough to sit on, but I didn’t want to sit. I wanted to eat. Making my way into the kitchen, I was disappointed to see it was in sore need of appliances. The only remaining piece of equipment was a stove that looked like it needed wood to work.

  Well, if I was supposed to be hiding out, it was best to keep the downstairs in ruin. I didn’t think it would take long for people to find me, but I’m sure Hipslow knew that too. He had plans, I just didn’t know what kind of plans. I hoped they included finding a place with a hot bath and microwave oven.

  Since there was obviously no food here, I decided to make my way to the church to check on my classroom. The old woman who lived in the church always had something for me to eat. I rubbed my grumbling belly and made my way out the back door.

  I locked the door and snuck quickly through the back yard so that no one would see me. I felt like a criminal sneaking across the lawn, crunching on all the leaves from numerous falls that nobody had raked up. There wasn’t much behind the house, except a bunch of scraggly and dense trees and a couple of old and rotting sheds. I suppose it was a good house for me to hide out in, as nobody would be moving in next door.