by Hunt, Jack
“I really don’t have time for games. So I’ll make this nice and clear. What is the address of Corey Ford? And where are all your supplies?”
Someone from the group, a woman, teary eyed and scared, spoke up. “There is a small amount kept at the school. It’s the emergency operation center.”
“And the rest?”
“That’s all I know about.”
He gave a nod to one of his men and the woman was dragged towards a vehicle. Then she was driven away, presumably to take ten of his men to the center. He turned to the rest of them. “I get a strong feeling you are holding back. You see, in the past eight weeks I have seen all manner of shit. But one thing towns have in common throughout Montana is a lack of order. Except here.” He turned and looked around. “Sure you’ve had some fires; you’ve had those rise up and yet you operate as though it’s just a glitch in the matrix. So what? Am I to buy that you pitiful-looking individuals are at the helm of this town? That you are hunting, gathering and protecting the masses? Come on now.” He waited for a response but got none. “Okay. I guess then I have no need for you all. Execute them,” he said to his men.
Cries filled the air as soldiers lined up in front of them, handguns drawn.
The chief raised a hand. “Stop. I know.”
Hopkins turned and looked at the chief. “Go ahead.”
“Camp Olney. North of here. It’s a settlement. That’s where you’ll find Corey, and the resources you’re looking for. They supply us with what we need on a week-to-week basis, but our group here handles protection at the roadblocks. However, I would strongly advise to not go up there.”
Hopkins wandered over to him. “Really? And why might that be?”
“You’re not dealing with ordinary people. Not like the folks in this town. They won’t listen to you.”
Hopkins crouched and got close to the chief. “But they would listen to you, no?”
“Maybe.” He shrugged.
“Or perhaps Corey’s friend,” he said, eyeing Ferris across the way. “Well then, let’s send them a message.”
1
Tyler Ford cradled the long-distance rifle as he leaned against a steel post in the guard tower. A warm breeze bathed his skin as he squinted at the blue, cloudless sky. Like everyone at Camp Olney he pitched in with whatever needed to be done. Hunting, cleaning, scouting, cooking, guard work, you name it, he’d done it at least once. It was the way life worked at Camp Olney — everyone did a little of everything. Some excelled in certain areas and opted to focus on a single task but the general rule was everyone needed to be familiar with all areas of survival.
In the distance he could see camouflaged guards patrolling the landscape, some dipping into the surrounding forest, and others holding position in newly built dugouts, courtesy of Markowitz. Corey’s pals had been a well of ideas from which to draw upon. Their experience in the military was not only an asset, but it gave the settlement a new sense of safety. From behind the wall of double-thick fencing, a combination of steel and wood, his job along with those in guard towers was to observe, raise the alarm and initiate a second line of defense.
It had been two months since the power grid shut down, and four weeks since he’d discovered his mother was alive. In that time, the camp had expected retaliation by Jude but so far, all was calm. Still, they hadn’t let their guard down. Andy was adamant that it was only a matter of time. Jude wasn’t the kind of man to sit and do nothing. Neither was Andy. They’d sent out scouts to observe Camp O’Brien, tightened up security around the clock, changed guard positions and kept tabs on Thomas, but by the looks of it they’d settled into a routine and given up attacking towns in the county.
A shuffle behind Tyler and he turned to see Allie scaling the ladder.
“Finally, we end up on the same shift. You’ve been dodging me for the past few weeks.” Tyler gave her a hand over the lip. The guard towers were made of a combination of wood and steel. They were high enough to give them a good lay of the land but they weren’t very spacious. The cramped roofed quarters provided enough room for two people, and a cot. As they rotated shifts, it was rare that anyone needed to rest, but the cot was there for the long nights. It allowed at least one of them to get a few hours so they weren’t exhausted the next day. Though it was mandatory that one guard had to be awake at all times, requiring them to take turns sleeping. Camp Olney had four guard towers, one at each corner, and four guards walking around a catwalk that wrapped the inner perimeter of the wall. Beyond that were upwards of twenty people, dispersed among the landscape. Andy and many others had put a lot of thought into the security of the camp to make people feel safe.
“I’ve been busy,” Tyler replied, bringing up his binoculars and looking out.
He heard her brush dust from her jeans and tight-fitting tank top. All of them wore Kevlar flak jackets with armored inserts inserted into pouches. In addition, they each carried magazines, smoke grenades and a flare gun. The first sign of trouble and they needed to be ready to engage. Preparation was key. It was one of the first talks Andy gave after resuming his role as one of the original ten founders.
“When are you going to tell them?” Allie asked.
Tyler lowered the binos and glanced at her. “Soon. I just need time.”
“I don’t understand why you haven’t told them already.”
He sighed. “I’ve been told lies my entire life, Allie. How long has Jude known about this? Did Andy know? And why? I just don’t get it. Why would she do this?” he asked. “I should have known. I never saw my mother’s body. Andy told us she had passed, and the wake, well that was a closed casket. I just assumed…” He sighed.
Allie placed a hand on his back. “You look like you could use some sleep.”
He shrugged her off and brought the binos up. “I’m fine.”
Allie moved to the wraparound railing and leaned against it. “You’ve been going out to see her, haven’t you?”
“You’ve been keeping tabs on me?”
“Someone has to,” she said. “You heard from Nate on how Erika’s doing?”
“I saw both of them a week ago. Erika is out of the coma and Nate is happy to remain there until she is discharged.”
“I’m surprised that hospital is still functioning.”
“It wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for the town or us.”
She nodded and looked out. “You had breakfast yet?”
“No.”
She turned and pulled off her backpack and dug around inside. She pulled out a container and popped it open. Inside was jerky. A large amount of meat that the camp brought in was turned into jerky to make it last longer. She handed him a few pieces, and he thanked her.
“So what are your plans?”
He took a bite and began to chew. “For?”
“Your mother. Jude. Telling your brother. At the very least I’m sure Corey would want to know. You owe him that.”
“I owe him? Yeah. Maybe.”
“Maybe? If I found out my mother was alive after all this time, you can be damn sure Madison would be eager to know. The longer you leave it, the more pissed he’ll be.”
“We’ve lived without knowing for a long time. I think a few more weeks won’t matter.”
“Weeks? Why would you wait that long?”
Tyler stopped chewing and looked at her. “Is it your mother? No. So let it go.”
“Let it go?”
“For God’s sake, Allie. Why do you care?” Tyler asked. “You have your sister back. Your father is still alive.”
“Yeah but I don’t have my mother. I would give anything to have her back. That’s why it blows my mind that you are not taking this seriously.”
Tyler turned. “You think it matters if I tell him now or a month from now? The fact is our mother has been alive all this time, and not once has she come to see us. She doesn’t give two shits. Hell, I thought Andy was bad but now I’m starting to think he was one hell of a father. At least he didn’t walk out.”
>
“Maybe he doesn’t know. Have you thought of that? You’re walking around carrying this big weight on your shoulders. Let someone else carry some of it.”
Tyler chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t get it. Why would you? You’ve always had your family. Besides your mother’s death, you don’t know what I’ve had to go through. So don’t even begin to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do.”
She looked at a loss for words, and then Tyler suddenly regretted opening his mouth.
“No, you’re right,” she finally said. “I don’t know what you’ve been through or how hard you’ve had it but at some point, you’ve got to put the past behind you.”
“I tried. Believe me I did. Then this shit storm happened,” he said glancing out and shaking his head. It was one bad thing after another. For the longest time his life had been good. After arriving in Las Vegas, he’d adjusted to city living. Being away from the regime of Andy felt like being released from prison. He soon found his stride and joined the hustle and bustle. His mind drifted back to the present.
“Even more reason to tell them.”
“Look, I appreciate the advice, Allie, I really do, but…” Before he could finish, a frown formed on his face as a red flare rose into the air. There was only one reason that occurred, and that was trouble. Tyler brought up the binos and adjusted the zoom. He scanned the forested landscape and then saw it. “Raise the alarm.”
Allie shook the bell. Young mothers ushered the young and old into the domes. Steel doors sealed closed. Andy emerged from his dome and called up. “What we got?”
“A rider on a horse,” Tyler yelled. “Looks like Ferris but…”
Before he could finish, he looked again and then his eyes widened. Ferris was slumped over on the horse, barely hanging on as the horse galloped wildly towards the gates. If that wasn’t shocking enough, what it was dragging behind was. He couldn’t tell who it was, but it was a body.
Grinding steel locks behind wooden gates groaned as Corey, Andy and a host of armed people opened the gates. They parted like the Red Sea, letting the horse gallop in past them. Andy was quick to grab the reins and slow the horse. Dust kicked up behind it, a plume of grit. Ferris was hunched over, his legs tied into the stirrups, a rope wound over his thighs holding him to the horse. Up close, the full extent of his injuries could be seen. His face was battered, and he was gripping a bloody wound on his stomach. “Ferris,” Andy said, lifting his head. He mumbled out a few words before they cut him loose and his body slid off the horse. A few of the men in camp caught him and rushed him to the medical center. Tyler hurried down the ladder to get a better look at the man who was lying motionless. He was facedown and his entire body was caked in mud. He was barely recognizable. What little clothes he had on were torn to shreds from having been dragged by the horse. His ankles had been tied together, and the other end of the rope tied off around the back of the saddle. Andy cut the rope and his legs dropped. They flipped the man over and then took a step back.
“Hudgens?” Andy closed his eyes and dipped his head.
There was no point checking for a pulse. The dark hole in the center of his forehead explained it all. Who had done this? Ferris might have raised questions in the mind of Corey but not even he would have stooped this low. Corey crouched and searched his body for a message but there was none. “Anything?” Tyler asked.
“This must have been Jude,” Andy said turning on a dime.
“It can’t have been,” Corey said. “We’ve had him and the camp under surveillance for the past four weeks. No one has ventured out of there, not even at night.”
“What you see, and what is happening behind the scenes are two different things. Jude is a master at hiding the truth,” Andy replied. “I want everyone inside the camp, no exceptions until I’ve spoken with Ferris. And double the number of guards on the gates. If he’s planning an attack, we will be ready for it. That bastard is going to pay!”
Markowitz and Gibby took off to carry out his orders, while Corey examined Hudgens’ body. “It doesn’t make sense. The town had more than enough armed volunteers. And Hudgens sure as hell wasn’t in the habit of leaving town.”
Two people stepped in to assist in removing Hudgens’ body, while another took the horse to the stables.
Allie looked at Tyler as Corey made a beeline for the medical center.
“You think it was him?” Allie asked Tyler, as if he would know any better. He was as much in the dark as anyone. Although he had grown close to Jude in the three weeks in Camp Olney, his views of him were marred by Jude’s alliance with Thomas and the raiders. Then of course there was the matter of his mother being alive and that secret rendezvous. He certainly didn’t look shocked to see her. He didn’t know what to believe. Father or not, if he was behind this, heads would roll.
They followed Corey into the medical center where two doctors were already working on Ferris. Medical terminology was spat out, and shiny instruments wheeled into place.
“Get them out of here,” the head doctor said, his face masked up.
Andy pointed and Tyler took the hint. He returned to his position in the guard tower with a new sense of vigilance and determination to protect the settlement. Allie wasn’t that far behind. “We should go see,” she said.
Tyler shook his head. “You heard what Andy said.”
“That hasn’t stopped you slipping out before,” she muttered. “And besides, when was the last time you ever listened to him?”
He brought the binos up and looked out. Nothing. No movement. He shouted over to Rachel, one of the women who had been patrolling the external perimeter. She was now walking the catwalk around the interior near him. “Did you see anyone else?”
“Nothing. Figured Ferris guided the horse in.”
It was possible, but he looked barely alive when they cut him loose.
Were they out there, watching?
“We have to warn the scouts,” Allie said.
Tyler picked up a canister of water and unscrewed the top. “Markowitz is handling it. They need us here,” he said before chugging back most of the contents. “If they’re out there, watching, they’re probably expecting to pick off more of us. Andy is right. Regroup, reassess and then decide a course of action. Right now, we wait.”
Allie shrugged. “Wait? I never took you as the waiting kind,” she said.
She was starting to annoy him. “Don’t you have something else to do? I’m pretty sure it was meant to be Holden up here with me today.”
“I swapped shifts. Figured if I didn’t, you’d dodge me for another month.”
“I’m not dodging you,” Tyler replied.
“Right. You’ve been busy.” She paused for a few seconds, then said, “Is this about what happened? I’ve already explained that Jude gave me no choice.”
“It’s not about that.”
“Then what is it, Tyler? Because you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder ever since.”
Tyler turned and looked at her.
“Let’s just say that Fords don’t have much luck when it comes to women.”
She frowned, confused at first, then it must have dawned on her.“You’re worried about me? Like, Ella, or your mother? But why? We’re not even dating.”
He dipped his chin and chuckled. “No, that’s right. Let’s keep it that way,” he said climbing back down the ladder and leaving her with more questions than answers. The truth was, he’d grown fond of her and from experience he knew that his relationships only ended one way — badly.
2
Hot coffee splashed over his hands as Nate juggled two cups, a set of fresh clothes under one arm and a bag over his other arm. Bailey was no longer at the hospital. Tyler had taken the dog back with him a couple weeks ago, suggesting that it was better for her. More room to run around and it would give the hospital a break. Nate cursed as the coffee burned his hand. He set the cups down on a gurney in the corridor. A nurse hurried over to assist. “Need a little help?”
>
“Oh thanks. Spinning a few too many plates,” he said as his cheeks flushed red.
“Tell me about it,” she replied, taking the clothes from him. He noticed dark circles under her eyes and eyed her name tag. Helen. She was a good-looking girl, early twenties, dark hair pinned up. “I thought shift work was tough when life was normal but this is insane.”
“I bet. What kind of shifts are you pulling?”
“It was twelve hours in the first few weeks but some community nurses came to our aid and we’ve managed to dial back to eight hours. Still, with all chaos breaking loose outside, there’s been an upswing of casualties. Burns, stabbings, gunshot wounds. Though many of the older folks are the ones we’re seeing the most. Not all of them were able to get their regular meds, and with the elderly home care no longer running, it’s been back-to-back problems.”
They strolled down the corridor.
“Well I for one appreciate your sacrifice. Unpaid, it can’t be easy.”
She nodded. “How’s that wound of yours coming along?”
She jerked her head towards his hand which had fallen prey to some psycho. At least that’s what Danny called her. What a freak she was.
“All I need is another hole in the other hand, and I could pass myself off as a martyr,” he joked. She didn’t laugh. That was when he noticed her wearing a cross around her neck. “I’m sorry. Just making light of it.”
She shrugged. “It’s fine. Lately, I’ve had my doubts about my relationship with him upstairs.”
He didn’t bother to delve into it, and thankfully she quickly shifted the topic.
