by S A Ison
“Let’s get the stuff unload the trailer and head out.” Brian said.
“Sounds good to me. I’m glad you found those girls and I’m glad they’re here. Two more babies safe. It never occurred to me about children left behind. I know I said it before. It boggles my mind.” BJ said sorrowfully. He turned and went to the trailer and opened it.
“We’ll take these beds inside and set up for the girls. That way, if they need to take a nap, they can.” BJ called from around the trailer.
“Should I swing by, while we’re out and pick up some clothing for the girls? Also, some girly sheets?” Brian smiled. Emma reached out and squeezed his arm.
“Yes, thank you so much Brian. These girls have been through hell. I’d like to go slow and make their life a little easier.”
“No worries Emma, I think these girls need a little TLC. BJ and I will take care of this.” Brian smiled.
Brian went to the trailer and helped BJ with the load in the back of the trailer. It didn’t take long and he and BJ filled the house with the goods. They set up the beds, he’d have to pick up more lumber and build the girls a room. The house was beginning to become smaller. He laughed to himself. Three children and four adults. He didn’t mind, to help these children was a privilege. To keep them safe, he couldn’t think of anything better to do with his life and he knew Christa would be proud of him.
Twenty minutes later, BJ and Brian left the park and drove to Lowes. When they arrived, and Brian grabbed a large cart.
“Let’s get the tub and more lumber along with the insulation. I’ve got to build those girls a room.” Brian announced.
“Let’s also get some happy paint. They have samples we can use; they’re already mixed up. Also, I’m sure Coop would like it as well.” BJ said.
“That’s a really good idea. Thank god we don’t have to pay for all of this. Then let’s head to the insulation. I want to also pick up LED lighting, so once we get the solar panels set up, we’ll have light. Also, let’s look for a small fridge. Might as well get everything we can.”
“Cool beans. Things are coming together.” BJ said, rubbing his hands together. Both men went about gathering supplies. Brian’s mind kept going over and over all the lists. It was endless, and perhaps he and BJ should begin to tap abandoned car’s gas tanks. He only had a few full five-gallon cans left. With the garden doing well, the fruit trees thriving, things were looking good. The plastic containers would help secure their supplies, buried and safe, should bad guys come by. Bad guys were out there, and he felt rage roil over him at the thought of little Hailey. He blew out a breath, he didn’t need his blood pressure spiking. He’d protect all the children from harm, or die trying.
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Emma carried the metal pail filled with hot water. They were using one of the fifty-gallon containers as a bath tub. It was set by the lake, where they could add colder water. Amanda had taken the first bath and now Hailey was taking hers. They dumped the used water into the sand on the beach. Amanda was playing with Cooper and the two dogs. Emma had examined both girls, both were malnourished and thin. They were also slightly dehydrated. They could fix that. Hailey had bruising, but as far as Emma could tell, the girl only had the bruising, nothing more. She’d been thankful for it. It would seem that Amanda had rescued the child before irreversible harm was done. She didn’t know what the men had done, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.
Cooper had graciously given a couple of his toys to Hailey for bath time. Emma washed the child’s hair and Paadi rinsed it. The mouth-watering scent of chocolate cake wafted over.
“I smell cake.” Hailey announced as she wiped water from her eyes.
“Yep, the cake should be done in about ten minutes. We’ll let it cool and then I’ll put icing on it.” Emma agreed.
“UMMM! I like chocolate cake!” Hailey cried happily. Emma looked over at Paadi and smiled.
“I think she’ll be okay, thank god.” Paadi said softly.
“I hope so. Okay young lady, let’s get you rinsed off and then we’ll get you dressed and you can go play with Amanda and Cooper. Emma mixed hot water in with cold water and then poured the warm water over the child. She squealed and danced around in the container. Paadi stepped forward with a large towel and engulfed the child. Hailey clung to Paadi and twisted her arms around Paadi’s neck. Paadi carried the child back to the house and Emma dumped the water into the sand. It was a pretty good tub and she looked forward to the bathtub Brian was picking up. It would be nice to sit and soak from time to time.
She walked over to the sun oven. She had mittens to pull the glass pan out. Brian had made a table, and had set up the sun oven. It was big enough to also prepare meals. He was such a handy man. She and Paadi had strung up the clothes lines and hung the freshly washed clothes. The girls didn’t have much and Emma had wanted to try the yellow buckets. They worked perfectly. She looked at the girl’s clothing, blowing in the breeze and she smiled.
She took the cake pan off the sun oven, using her fingertip to check the bounce of the top of the cake. It seemed cooked. She took a knife and slid it into the middle of the cake, then pulled it out. Clean. The cake was good to go. She’d ice the cake later. She shut down the sun oven carefully, the heat coming off of it was impressive. It amazed her, no power, but they could bake or cook on sunny days. She grunted, pretty cool, she thought.
Hailey ran past, and joined the other children. They ran up and down the beach, the dogs chasing them and barking.
“You think I maybe shouldn’t have shot those assholes?” Paadi asked, coming up beside her to watch the children.
“I think you did just right. I think Hailey escaped rape by the grace of God. Amanda saved her, there is no doubt, but those men did something to her. Had they held onto her, they would have raped her, no doubt. No, they were animals and shouldn’t live. You did the world a favor Paadi.” Emma said darkly.
“I’m only sorry you couldn’t make them die slower. I think Hailey will heal, but she’ll never be who she was meant to be. None of the children will. Their small lives have been changed. All we can do is help them through this new world.” Emma said and she held a hand up over her eyes, watching the kids. She looked up and saw the gathering clouds.
“It’s gonna rain. Should we leave the clothes on the line?” Paadi looked up as well.
“Might as well. At least we don’t have to water the garden. And we got the cake baked. I’ll take it in and later, we can make a nice dinner and then awesome dessert. Christ, it’s been a long time since I’ve had cake. It might not be homemade, but it is a cake all the same.” Emma grinned.
“Me too. It’s also been a long time since I’ve been around family. I think our family is pretty nice.” Paadi said softly, her large brown eyes bright with tears. Emma hugged her friend. Paadi might sound rough or gruff at times, but she had the biggest heart.
She felt the first drop hit her face and looked down at the cake.
“Okay kids, time to go in. Let’s go.” Emma shouted.
“You sound like a mom.” Paadi laughed and put her arm around Emma. Both women walked back to the house as the kids ran to meet them. The dogs followed close behind. Emma sighed contently, looking behind her, at her children, for she thought of them as her own.
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Flynn and Xandra made their bed by the large sliding glass door to the outside. The screen had been pulled shut to keep the bugs out. It was early evening and she was tired. Both she and Flynn had bathed in the pool. It had felt wonderful to be clean. Xandra was feeling human again. She was pretty sure if Flynn hadn’t come, she’d have been dead in two days. She’d been on the verge and she knew it. She’d been too terrified to leave her apartment. She’d been paralyzed with terror, at the thought of going outside. She’d watched from her apartment window, the heaps of people in the streets. Vans would stop from time to time and dump the bodies, like trash, then speed away.
She’d seen no police to stop them. Then the dogs came, f
ighting and dragging the bodies, it was all so obscene to her. Her brain began to shut it out, and she stopped going to the window. The stench in the building began to move its way into her apartment, like a deadly and invisible fog. She could hear thousands of flies, their buzzing unrelenting. She’d tried to put cotton in her ears, but she could still hear it, just outside her door and outside her windows.
She sipped at the Pedialyte. It was helping, she could tell. Flynn had made chicken soup from a can and she’d nibbled at crackers. Her stomach was beginning to accept the food. She’d vomited her earlier meal, cramping. After drinking the Pedialyte, it helped and she kept the soup down. She felt stuffed, for the first time in weeks. She’d lost track of time. It all seemed like a distant nightmare now, the death count on TV, the videos of pyres, built from the dead stacked up high, as other countries tried to get a handle on the growing number of dead. When the banners came up and the people stopped talking, she knew it was the beginning of the end.
She’d tried to call her family, but no one answered. She tried to call her friends, no one answered. Then the phone service went out, then the power went out. Then her food ran out, then her water. She’d managed to get water from the rain, but it had let flies into her home. She’d spent hours chasing them and killing them, the sound of the buzzing driving her crazy.
“You okay, Xandra?” Flynn asked softly, raising up on his elbow to look at her in the semi-darkness.
Xandra let out a long breath, she’d been nearly hyperventilating.
“Yeah, I was just thinking about being trapped in my apartment. It was a nightmare, a horrible nightmare.”
“You’re safe now. I’ll do everything I can to keep you that way.” He said and gathered her in his arms. She laid her head on his shoulder and looked out into the night sky. It felt weird to be in someone else’s home, while they lay rotting in their beds, but this was a new and different world. Nothing in her life had prepared her for this. Nothing. Even the movies she’d watched, were nothing like this reality. She shuddered and felt Flynn hold her tighter. He was a good man. She’d been on the fence about dating him after the first couple of dates. He seemed slightly immature, though they were the same age. He’d been sweet and seemed to like her.
When he’d come to her, she’d been so grateful, she’d have sold her soul to him. He’d been a valiant, stand-up guy and had not taken advantage of it. He’d helped her and took care of her and guarded her when she couldn’t do it herself. He’d didn’t have to come back for her, after all, they’d not known each other well. But he had, and she was grateful and it would seem that they’d both grown up.
“Did either of the trucks work?” She asked after a long moment of silence.
“Yeah, they both did. The one truck had well over half a tank. I also found two gas cans in the garage. A five gallon one and a two gallon one. Both full, so we can take those with us. Tomorrow, I’ll repack the truck and also take some of the stuff from here. Pillows, blankets, towels and so on. Also, a couple of pots and pans, along with cooking stuff. That way, we don’t have to eat our stuff cold. These people had a couple of cases of water in the garage as well.”
“It’s sad, but I’m glad we stopped here. It is amazing how much better you feel when you’re clean.” She sighed.
“Hell yeah. Christ, it was as though I had a coating of grease and dirt on me.”
“I hope we can find a place to stay. I hope we can learn out to survive. I don’t want to feel that helpless again.” She said and wiped at a tear, sliding down the side of her face.
“Me too Xandra, me too. I promise, I’ll do my best to make sure we do survive. No matter what.”
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Casper walked back and forth in front Franklin Institute Science Museum. He could hear wolves howling, he’d seen them over in Logan Square. Flynn hadn’t come back and it was nearing midnight. He walked angrily back and forth, the brothers in the shadows, watching him. They were his ever-faithful companions. Unlike Flynn, who’d been his best friend in the before, it seemed was no longer. The bastard had abandoned him, and left the city. He’d thought that Flynn had given that up, he’d been wrong. He wanted to kill him now. Tear him apart for the betrayal, but Casper had no idea where the man had gone. It was a wide-open world out there.
He’d not waste his energies in looking for the little coward. He had to stay here, in the center of his universe, else it would spin out of control. If he ever saw Flynn again, he’d kill the man. He turned and went inside; he could waste no more energy on Flynn. The brothers followed behind as the wolves lamented the night.
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BJ held the plywood in place while Brian screwed the galvanized screw in. Brian had let his batteries charge in BJ’s trailer. They had plenty of juice, for now. The storage shed was nearly complete. He and Brian had also picked up house wrap and tongue and groove planks to side the sheds. That would give the structure longevity as well as blend into the camp’s surroundings. They would work on the solar panels later today as well.
They’d already put the bathtub into the fourth stall in the bathroom. It had taken some doing, but they’d removed the toilet and had used several sizes of PVC pipe and had lowered the large slipper bathtub over the toilet hole. After several buckets of water, the bathtub was deemed useable. Emma had been the first to christen the tub.
“Though it’s only a couple inches of warm water, I’ll take it.” She’d laughed. It would take many buckets of water to fill the thing, so all had agreed that it would be a winter pleasure, where water was heated at all times on the wood stove. They could also use it to bath the children, reusing the water for each child. Amanda would go first, then Hailey and last, Cooper.
Brian’s grunt brought BJ back to task.
“I think that will do it. We can now wrap this thing and get the shingles on the roof and she’ll be water tight. Emma and Paadi will be in charge of putting the siding on.” Brian said, standing back and looking at the large shed. They still had shelving from the hardware store and would set it up inside.
“I’m going to build more shelving in there. Also, I’m glad the door we picked up for this thing has a deadbolt on it. It will at least slow an intruder down.” BJ said, walking around the shed. It was a foot off the ground, a ten by ten-foot structure and six feet high. It wasn’t tall, but wide and deep enough to store a lot of supplies. It was sturdy as well. BJ grinned at Brian.
“What?” Brian asked.
“I think we should build another, after we build one in the woods, for the propane tanks.”
“What? Why another?” Brian asked, surprise on his face.
“Well, the next shed, we should insulate, I think we’re going to need it to store the canned foods. That way, we won’t have to worry about it freezing and in the heat of summer will the insulated shed will also keep the jars cool. It’s either that, or dig a root cellar. We can build the insulated shed in the tree line, to keep it in the shade.” BJ suggested.
“Christ, I don’t want to dig a damned root cellar. That trench was bad enough and all those holes for the plastic containers. My hands have so many blisters.” Brian laughed, flexing his hands.
“You ever going to tell Emma and Paadi what happened at Walmart?” BJ said, changing the subject to something that had been eating at him. Brian looked around and BJ did as well. The women were in the garden, the children by the chicken coop.
“No, it would only scare them and what’s to tell. I killed a couple of maggots. Two less assholes in this world, two less child molesters.” Brian said darkly, then walked over to pick up the house wrap. BJ helped him. When the two men had gone to Walmart to pick up girl clothing as well as games and toys for the children, they’d been met on their third trip out to the trailer. Two grubby men had shown up, just as they were loading the trailer with more food. Walmart shelves were beginning to become bare of the foodstuffs.
“Hey, you assholes kill our friends?” A man with dull red hair shouted, a shotgun in his hands, he was
pointing it at Brian and BJ, who looked like deer in the headlights.
“What? What the hell are you talking about?” BJ asked, though he suspected he knew. Emma had mentioned briefly about the men Paadi’d shot at the mattress place. It was only half a mile away from Walmart. He’d not gotten the whole story before they’d left, only the barest of highlights. He and Brian had figured they’d get the rest of the details once they got back from their run and the children out of earshot. Both men had speculated that Paadi had just shot them on sight. It would appear that the dead men had friends.
“We just found our friends this morning. Did you kill them?” The other man, had two missing front teeth. A beauty for sure.
“Mister, we just got here a little bit ago. We’re only here to pick up supplies. We don’t want trouble.” Brian said, his voice a deadly calm. Brian was an intimidating man; he was over six feet and broad through the chest and back. He’d have to be to be a firefighter, BJ thought. BJ was on the slender side with narrow shoulders. Not intimidating at all.
“That don’t answer our question asshole.” Toothless spat.
“No, we didn’t kill your friends. Like my friend said, we only got here an hour ago.” BJ said.
“You seen our kids then?” The red headed man asked.
“Kids?” BJ asked, surprised.
“Yeah, a little girl, about six, and a little boy, about three.” The man said. BJ looked at Brian. The women had said nothing about a little boy. Jesus, these animals had another little one. Where was he?
“We’ve not seen any children here.” Brian said, his voice now hard.
“I don’t believe you.” Toothless snarled.
“I don’t care.” Brian said. What happened next was a blur and BJ had felt himself shoved to the ground, falling off the trailer. He didn’t see Brian pull his Glock, but he heard it and he saw the two men dive to the ground. The man with the shotgun tried to raise it, but BJ saw the bloom of red spread across his chest. His eyes wide. Brian fired on toothless, hitting him in the gut. The man screamed in pain, and clutched as the blood gushed around his fingers.
