Refuge From The Dead | Book 3 | Dead Fall

by Masters, A. L.

  “Jean! Can you keep an eye on the oven? I’m going out to gather everyone up for supper!” Jess shouted.

  She received a shouted affirmative from the top deck in return. Jean must be up there doing something. She probably didn’t want to know what. She left while Angie went to change from her sweaty clothes.

  It felt nice to be outside again. She found Jack in the food supply tent. He was rotating their food stores and setting more poison. Ever since they had moved their food from the destroyed lodge basement, they had a never-ending problem with mice.

  “Hey, darlin’,” he called out, setting down a crate of dry goods.

  He came over and gave a her a quick sweaty kiss on the lips. Then pulled back and looked at her. Really looked at her.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

  She thought she looked pretty good, all things considering. She must have been mistaken.

  “I’m fine. I made supper for everyone, and it will be ready soon. Where’s Jonah?” she asked, turning the conversation away from her illness.

  “He’s over with Nick and Bradley on the far side of the island. They said they were going to do some swimming. I guess they’ve earned it. They’ve gotten the whole weapons cache organized and ready to go whenever Cam gives the word.”

  She was not looking forward to moving day.

  She put a hand over her stomach, thinking of the tiny little baby that she was responsible for now. Her anxiety over leaving the island has tripled since she found out she was pregnant.

  “What’s wrong, darlin’? Are you sick again?” Jack asked worriedly. He looked at her hand that she had unthinkingly placed over her stomach.

  Crap! She wasn’t ready to tell him yet!

  “Just indigestion,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back toward the boat.

  “I guess Jonah and the others will come back when they get hungry.” He pulled her to him and laid a sweaty arm across her shoulders. She didn’t mind. She missed him lately.

  “I’m taking the day off tomorrow,” he said suddenly.

  That wasn’t good.

  “Oh?” she asked. The more he was around her, the more he would see.

  “Yep. I thought we could spend the day together. We haven’t had much time together. I thought we could take a picnic over to the far side of the island and have some alone time. Maybe go swimming….”

  “That sounds great!” she said, swallowing back her initial objection.

  She would just have to take another one of those pills and hoped it worked as well as it had today.

  Angie

  Angie was feeling a bit down that night at supper.

  Everyone else was having good time, laughing and making jokes. She missed Cam. She was worried about him. He had only confided his plans to Jim and Jack, and nobody else. She hoped he had a safe place to sleep tonight.

  Jim squeezed her hand under the table, giving her a little reassurance.

  He suddenly stood up, tapping his glass with a knife to get everyone’s attention. Nick, Brad, and Jonah came back from the kitchen where they were filling their plates. Angie looked up at Jim, confused.

  “Everyone listen up. Cam asked me before he left to conduct a meeting about the training plan and the moving plan. So far, everyone has received their training plans. Does anyone have any comments about the assignments?”

  “Why don’t I ever get to train on the machine gun?” Jean asked, irritated. “I think it’s only fair that I get to learn to use it too. Jonah gets to!” she said, pointing at Jonah.

  “All right, Jean. All right. I’ll train you on the fifty-cal for two days instead of doing what Cam had down. Is there anything else that isn’t to your liking?” he asked, somewhat sarcastically.

  “Nope. That’s all,” she said, sitting back down and taking a drink of her tea. “Wait! I still haven’t been promoted yet!” she complained.

  Jim shook his head. “Anyone else?” He looked around the room and saw that nobody had any more objections.

  “Okay. Now for the moving timeline. Cam wants us to get completely moved over to the cabin by the end of September. That means getting our supplies over there, establishing security, and getting things winterized back here.”

  Angie let out a sigh of relief. They would have a little more time here. As she was starting to feel better, Jim continued his briefing.

  “One last thing…”

  Everyone paused again and looked back at him. “Cam said that if he hasn’t returned by the end of September, that we are to go ahead and do the move without him.”

  The room fell completely silent, everyone dumbfounded by the thought of Cam not being back for that long.

  “Jim, surely he wasn’t planning to be gone that long!” Angie asked.

  “He doesn’t know, babe. He said he would try to come back and let us know something. He wanted us to be prepared, just in case he may be gone for an extended amount of time. That’s all I know.”

  Jim sat back down, and Angie saw the others looking at each other with concern.

  Cam was their leader…and her future husband. She couldn’t imagine not seeing him for another month.

  Jessica

  Jessica opened her eyes early the next morning and lay completely still. Maybe it she didn’t move the nausea wouldn’t come back. She felt Jack sleeping beside her and the almost imperceptible rocking of the boat. Oh no…

  Nope, it didn’t work.

  She was going to be sick!

  She grabbed her bottle of pills from under her side of the mattress, and her bottle of water from the nightstand. She raced out of the room as quickly as she could without waking Jack. She rushed into the silent hallway and to the small bathroom.

  She only wished there was some noise to cover the sounds of her vomiting.

  She leaned over and threw up what little was in her stomach. She heaved for several minutes, until her stomach muscles where sore and quivering. She rinsed her mouth with a little of the bottled water and spit in the toilet before flushing.

  God….

  She collapsed to the floor, squishing herself into the small space and leaning her head against the wall. The cool tile felt nice against her clammy, sweaty forehead. When she was sure she wouldn’t throw up anymore, she decided to take a morning sickness tablet.

  She shook one out but dropped them and the water bottle. The water bottle sloshed and echoed through the bathroom, and the pills rattled and then and bounced around with minds of their own.

  Damn!

  She was searching for the few remaining pills when she heard a tap on the door.

  “Jess, open the door!” Jack said. He sounded rough.

  Crap, crap, crap…

  “Just a minute!” she called out in a quiet voice.

  “Now, Jess!” he said, pounding a fist on the door.

  She jumped at the sudden violence banging.

  She found the last pill and dropped it back into the bottle before quickly putting it in the cabinet. She smoothed her hair and opened the door.

  Jack was extremely pissed.

  “What were you doing in here?” he accused, eyes scanning the space.

  “What do you mean? It’s a bathroom! What do you think I was doing?” she said, irritated at his attitude and still on the verge of being sick again.

  “Don’t fucking play with me, Jess. Answer the damn question!” he said, taking her by the arms.

  He wasn’t hurting her, he never would. But her wasn’t letting her go either. She stayed quiet.

  “Where are the pills, Jess!?” he finally yelled.

  She jumped at his outburst and opened her mouth to say…something. She didn’t want to tell him this way.

  “Jack, let go.” She tried to pull her arms out of his grip. “Now! Please Jack, let go!” This was more urgent.

  She was going to throw up again, right now!

  “I’m going to be sick!” she shouted before turning and throwing up int
o the toilet.

  He let her go just in time.

  She leaned over, heaving, and felt her guts trying to make their way up through her mouth. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she wiped them away impatiently. She heard Jack moving things around in the cabinet. When she turned back around, he had the pill bottle in his hand, as well as her water.

  “What are these for? I’ve seen a lot of drugs in my job, Jess, but I’ve never heard of this,” he said. His face was cold. He looked like a stranger.

  He looked like a cop.

  Oh God. He thought she was on drugs!

  How could he think that about her?

  Well, she had lied to him, but not about drugs…

  “Jack, please. I need those.”

  She waited, trying to figure out how to say it. Was she just supposed to blurt it out? She had wanted to tell him at the right time, not this way.

  “Uh huh,” he said, still staring her down.

  “Those pills keep me from being sick. Please, let me have them back.” She hoped her reasonable tone might convince him to hand them over. Those were pretty much like gold to her.

  “Wait a minute. You’ve been sick this whole time? Since you got that stomach bug? That was like three weeks ago!” He looked at her more closely now.

  She nodded. “It’s not a virus,” she finally said.

  He looked uncomprehending at first. Finally, after a lengthy pause, something must have clicked in his head. He looked at the pills, then back to her, and then his eyes drifted to her stomach.

  “Oh shit! he said, resting both hands on his head. “What are you telling me, Jess? Just come out with it!” he pleaded.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  He let out the deep breath he had been holding and looked at her strangely.

  “You mean, I got you…pregnant? We’re going to have a baby?” he asked hesitantly.

  She nodded and he looked down to her flat stomach again.

  “You’re going to have my baby…” He was blown away.

  He sounded suspiciously proud.

  “I was waiting for a good time to tell you. I just couldn’t think how. I didn’t want you to be upset,” She stopped her excuses. Jack was smiling.

  “You’re going to have my baby,” he said, coming up and laying a hand on her stomach possessively. She laid her hand atop his and closed her eyes.

  She had done it. She had told him, and he didn’t run away, faint, or get upset. She felt so relieved. She felt so much better.

  Well…

  “Jack, I’m going to throw up!” she said, before turning once again to the toilet.

  ◆◆◆

  Two hours later, they were laying back in bed.

  The sun was just rising, and Jessica finally felt more normal. After she had thrown up the last time, Jack gave her one of her pills and carried her back to bed. He left the room and came back with some crackers and some toast.

  “I remember my wife used to eat this stuff when she was pregnant with Jonah. She said it helped a little.”

  It was sweet of him to think of it. She felt oddly jealous though. She was jealous that his wife had gotten to give him his first child. She felt like a huge meanie for feeling that way and told herself she was being unreasonable. Jack was hers now.

  “We’re going to have to get you some more of these pills. I’ll plan a run with Jim soon. Try to think of anything else you need too. Like diapers! We don’t have any diapers!” he said worriedly, a frown on his face.

  She laughed out loud.

  “Jack, the baby isn’t due until next spring. I think we have plenty of time to get diapers,” she teased.

  “Oh yeah. Well, you can’t ever be too prepared,” he said seriously.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked suddenly. He was stroking the top of her thighs slowly, lovingly.

  “Well. I was hoping you would marry me.”

  “What?” She wasn’t talking about that. She was talking about after the baby was born.

  “Yeah. I was going to ask you soon. I had it all planned out. Then Cam went and ruined it all by asking Angie first.”

  Jess chuckled. “How did that ruin your plans?” she asked him.

  “I didn’t want you to think I was copying him! I wanted to do it soon, but then he went and did that, so I decided to wait.”

  He looked down at her, moving his hand up to cover one of her cheeks.

  “Will you marry me, Jess?” he asked her solemnly.

  “Yes Jack, I will. I love you,” she said, reaching up to pull his head down.

  They rested together as the sun was pouring its golden rays over the lake. They would think of what to tell Jonah later.

  Jim

  Jim was instructing the teams on the assembly and disassembly of the M249 SAW. They were doing well so far, and Jim was relieved. He read the manual and had gone over it a few times with Cam, but Cam was the one with actual experience with the weapon.

  The teams wouldn’t get a chance to fire it yet, not here. It would draw too much attention. Cam wanted them to be well-versed in its operation and maintenance. It may come in handy one day.

  Poor Jean was having a tough time with the weight of the weapon and making it function properly. It was just too much for her.

  Eventually, they all got as proficient as they could without actually firing it. He showed them everything up to that point though, including feeding in the ammo belt and chambering the round.

  “Alright, go get some lunch then come back. We’re going over hand and arm signals next, then doing some PT.”

  Jim saw Jack and Jess waiting nearby. He was surprised to see Jess there this morning. She had stood at Jack’s table and had participated fully with the lesson. He noticed Jack paying her extra attention and guessed that Jessica had finally told him about the baby.

  He was as surprised as anyone when Angie told him Jess was pregnant.

  He knew she hadn’t been feeling well, but he didn’t really think too much about it. It was a shock for sure. They were going to have a baby in the group. It was a scary thought, that was for sure. He couldn’t imagine how Jack must be feeling.

  He pictured Angie pregnant with his baby and was surprised by the overwhelming flash of love and lust that took over his brain. It was so unexpected.

  Enough of that shit. There was too much to do to be standing wishing for the impossible.

  “Jim, can we have a word?” Jack said after storing his weapon. He and Jess had walked up to the grill where he was heating up an old pot of coffee from earlier in the day.

  “Sure, what do you need?” he asked curiously.

  “Well, first I think we should tell you that Jess is pregnant. We’re going to have a baby!” he said grinning and glancing over at her. Jim saw her blush and look down.

  “Congratulations!” he said, meaning it.

  “Thanks. The other thing I needed is to tell you that we need to make a run to a pharmacy. She’s almost out of medication. She needs them for the morning sickness. She can do without, but Brad is a little worried about her weight and keeping her hydrated. He said we really should get her more.”

  Jim looked at her more closely and could see that she had definitely lost weight. He didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed sooner. Maybe because she hadn’t been out in the sunlight much? She didn’t look well at all. He supposed because they had all changed a bit, losing fat and gaining muscle. Jess just looked more fragile and unwell.

  “We’ll plan a run then. If Brad is concerned, then I’m going to trust what he says. Did he say everything else was okay?”

  “He couldn’t really say much. We won’t be able to hear a heartbeat or feel anything for a while. At this point we are just waiting like any other couple before modern technology.” Jack put his arm around Jess and pulled her closer.

  “I’ll start planning that mission and let you know when we’re leaving. You’ll need to make a list, so we know what to get. Might as well try and think of everything we could want
, and we’ll get what we can. I’ll take Nick with me.”

  “I thought I would go…” Jack said.

  “I think you need to stay here. Stay with Jess and keep things running smoothly here. Nick and I will be fine.”

  He shook with Jack and put a hand on Jessica’s shoulder and squeezed. “Congratulations, Jess,” he said smiling.

  Chapter Four

  Reconnaissance

  Cam

  Cam had made the trek through the woods every day for a week now.

  Once, he had even waited after dark, using the NODs to surveil the place in the dark. He had learned that two separate patrols left the gates every day. One left early in the morning and one left at noon. The same people went each time.

  This suggested to Cam that these were the more capable fighters. The ones who the leader could depend on to fulfill their mission. These were the ones he would take out first when the time came.

  He had seen the prisoners working out in the garden every day. They were always under watch by at least two uniformed guards. He didn’t know if they were real guards, or if the guy in charge handed out some uniforms to his people.

  He had also seen a woman in a guard uniform, and she looked to be giving out orders to some of the others. She must be close to the guy.

  Cam had decided on a course of action.

  He was going to give it one more day of watching and see if Ed finally appeared somewhere. If he did, then he would implement his main plan. If he didn’t, then he would put plan B into action. Every day that passed could bring Ed closer to death, if he was even still alive.

  He really preferred not to have to go with plan B.

  ◆◆◆

  It was shortly after noon when Cam saw a second contingent of outdoor workers exit the building.

  That was a new development.

  He sat up a little straighter, focusing in on the new arrivals. One by one they walked past the guards, heads down. Their movements indicated fear. Obviously, it was a fear of the guards or someone else in authority. He thought back to the various injuries he had seen on some of the other laborers. He was almost certain that the workers were not treated well at all.