by Payne, T. L.
“I’ll talk to her about it, but I have to tell you, I’m not trusting those asshats around my son.”
It would be difficult to convince Savanah that they needed to take more time and secure the compound with her thinking the solution would be to invite strangers to join them. He’d need the others to agree with him. The last thing he wanted was to go off to battle somewhere and have to worry about Savanah and Gabby’s friends bringing trouble down on them while he was away.
Ten
Savanah
Williams Junction, Arkansas
Event + Nine Months
At first glance, all Savanah could see was the devastation that had been brought to the prior residents of the compound. She stopped just inside the five-strand barbed wire fence and took in the scene. Families had occupied the campers and motor homes. Even from the road, she could see the children’s toys strewn about outside camp. She shuddered to think they might have been killed in the gun battle with the military—Will’s unit.
One minute they were going about their day—just trying to survive—and the next they’re being fired upon by their own government—simply for disobeying the order to relocate to the safe zone. Will had told her they’d fired first, but they were just defending their home. What choice did they have? In the end, the survivors of that fateful day were forced off their land and moved first to Texarkana and then on to West Texas where they would be housed with still others deemed subversives.
“That motor home closest to the house doesn’t look too damaged,” Isabella said, stepping up beside Savanah.
“There are at least five that have minimal damage,” Jason said. He nodded toward a forty-foot condo on wheels. “That one there is well worth repairing. It’s super nice and big inside.”
Savanah gestured toward the house. “Is it repairable?”
She had no interest in staying in a motorhome in the winter. She’d been told how cold it could be, and she had no idea how they could possibly heat the recreational vehicle.
Jason’s smile appeared forced. “With time and supplies. The windows are all broken. There are holes in the siding that penetrate the walls. We’d need to seal everything up before winter.”
It was obvious that he was still was against the whole idea.
Savanah lifted the bandana she wore around her neck and wiped sweat from her brow. In the late June heat, it was hard to think that in just a couple of months the ground could be covered in snow. Thankfully, Arkansas didn’t get that much snow, but it would be cold and wet either way. She wasn’t looking forward to the weather at all.
“What about food and water?” Savanah asked. That was the most important factor to consider. They had time to winterize the living quarters, but food and fresh water would be their immediate concern. They would arrive from the shelter with only a day or two of food and water, at most—and even that would be hard to sneak out of the camp. The guards performed regular checks when anyone left the shelter. Stealing food was a felony punishable by imprisonment and relocation to the prison in Lubbock, Texas. They would all be risking a lot to make this work.
“We found a cache of canned food under the floor in the kitchen. It’s only enough for a week at most. Will thinks we should try to find more before settling here.”
A week? It was six days more than they’d relied on before they left her homestead in Vincent. Somehow, every day they had found something to feed the group. Not this time, though. She couldn’t do that to her kids. Not again. She hated it, but Will was right. They had to secure more food before taking the children up there. They’d have to hunt. Anything canned or packaged would have already been found and consumed by survivors from the area. She thought about the tractor-trailers sitting at the rest area along the interstate. All they needed was one truck with food inside, but that would take a miracle. She needed to be realistic. The lives of her children and all the others who would call this new place home depended on a more solid plan.
If they couldn’t find sufficient game and fish in the area, this compound would not be a viable option—that was the cold, hard truth of the matter.
“When can we start looking for game?” she asked turning to face Jason.
“There’s a nice field down the cliff behind the house. We can start there. We’ll check the tracks along the creek and see if we can spot any game trails.”
“Let’s go,” Savanah said.
She had never hunted in her life before the lights went out, but once it became the only way to feed her children, she’d been determined to learn all she could about it. She had a long way to go to be as good a hunter as Jason, but she knew how to tell a deer track from a wild hog, and where to look for rabbits. There were others in their group with better skills, and she’d observe them and ask questions until she was proficient and successful at putting consistent food on the table.
Jason, Savanah, and Pete’s wife, Kathy, followed the creek as far as they could, then moved tree-to-tree the rest of the way down the steep grade toward the open field below. After searching for signs of game for two hours, they’d discovered three trails and a place where it appeared deer were bedding down during the day.
“Look!” Savanah said, picking up a turkey feather and holding it out. “That's a good sign, right?”
“Turkey would be amazing right now,” Kathy said.
“I know, right?” Savanah said, licking her lips.
“We should cross the creek and check out that pond on the other side,” Jason said.
Savanah walked close to the bank of the stream and peered through the trees. “Are you sure? There’s a house over there.”
“I’ll clear it first,” Jason said.
“You shouldn’t go alone. We’ll all go,” Savanah said, looking to Kathy for confirmation. She doubted Kathy would object. Kathy was skilled with a rifle and quite confident in her ability to defend herself, though she wasn’t trained to properly clear a building. Her husband and his family had been preparing for something like this for years—they were preppers. How they could have known, she didn’t understand, but their forethought and planning had saved her and her children's lives, and for that, she was more than grateful.
“She’s right. We should all go. I’ll have your six,” Kathy said.
Savanah still wasn’t used to all the military jargon everyone seemed to be using these days. At times, she felt left out of the conversations as the acronyms and military terms flew over her head. She didn’t want to learn it all. She just wanted her life to go back to something resembling normal, but that, she knew, would take a very long time.
The trio skirted the trees lining an overgrown field and made their way past a pole barn, stopping behind a woodshed to observe the house.
“The door’s open,” Kathy said.
“There’s a screen door. The windows are open as well,” Jason whispered. “Savanah, I’ll clear left, you good clearing right?”
“Yep—I can do it,” Savanah said.
“Kathy, you’ll wait here. Let’s go, Savanah.”
Jason ran and pressed himself against the side of the house as Savanah followed behind him. They listened for voices inside or sounds of human activity but heard none.
“Ready—on three,” Jason said and flexed his knees twice before bounding through the door and clearing left. Savanah followed and swept the right side of the room with her weapon, then followed Jason as he immediately walked toward the next room and quickly entered, clearing left again.
As Jason swept his rifle back to center, Savanah hadn’t even begun her sweep from the right—she had barely entered the room.
“Hold it right there!” a young, female voice called.
Jason spun around, and his mouth dropped open as a young girl stepped into view from the right.
“No, Jason! She’s just a child!” Savanah yelled, pointing her rifle in the air.
“The girl stepped into the room from a hallway, pointing a shotgun at Jason. Her eyes were wide with terror, but she
didn’t back down.
“Drop that rifle, mister, or I’ll be forced to shoot this here scattergun atcha,” the girl said, her accent thick with a southern drawl.
“Evie Dawn!” a male voice called from down the hall past the girl.
“Stay in bed, Papaw. I’m okay,” the girl said with her eyes and weapon still on Jason. “Drop that rifle on the floor, ma’am.”
Jason slowly placed his rifle on the floor and held up both hands, palms facing the girl. He stepped back, his size fourteen boot stepping on Savanah’s toes.
“It’s okay. We’re leaving. We didn’t know this house was occupied,” Savanah said, still holding her raised rifle in the air while pulling her foot from under Jason’s boot. “Is your grandfather all right?”
The girl’s eyes darted down the hall and back to Savanah.
“I have some medicine with me. I have aspirin and some herbal remedies. I can take a look…”
“He’s got a bad infection. He got his hand stuck in one of our traps and the wound looks nasty,” the young girl said.
“I can take a look at it and see what I can do for him,” Savanah said, taking a step closer.
Jason grabbed Savanah’s arm as the girl turned the shotgun in Savanah’s direction. Savanah pulled her arm free of his grasp, slowly laid her rifle down, and let her pack slide off her shoulder at the same time. “What’s your name?” she asked as she unclipped her medical pouch.
“Evie.” The girl leaned slightly, eyeing the medical bag. “You got antibiotics in there. Papaw said he needed antibiotics.”
Savanah met the girl’s gaze. The terror had been replaced with concern.
“Who else is here with you?” Jason asked.
“Nobody,” Evie said without looking at him.
“You’re alone with your grandfather?” Savanah asked. She and Jason exchanged a concerned look. They both knew the girl was in a bad situation. If the grandfather succumbed to the infection and passed away, Evie would be left all alone to fend for herself.
Evie glanced back down the hall and nodded.
“Where are your parents?” Savanah asked.
Evie’s gaze remained on whatever was down that hall. “Under the oak tree out back.”
“I’m sorry,” Savanah said, her tone full of sympathy.
Death had become so much a part of their daily lives, yet Savanah didn’t think she would ever be used to it. For this child to have had to bury her parents was too painful to think about.
“How old are you, Evie?” Savanah asked, changing the subject.
“I’m nine.” She looked past Savanah to the stove. “My papaw was going to make me a pie for my birthday.”
Savanah grabbed the medical pouch and stood. “When’s your birthday?”
“July twenty-fourth.”
“Let’s go have a look at your grandpa. Maybe we can get him back on his feet and the two of you can still celebrate your big day.”
She tipped her head toward the far end of the hall. “He’s in there.”
Eleven
Will
Williams Junction, Arkansas
Event + Nine Months
An inspection of the house and shop had confirmed Will’s suspicions; anything useful had been taken. But who could have cleaned the place out? It was now obvious the military had failed to round up everyone. Of course, his unit would have taken any weapons they found here, as well as ammunition and food. But they would have no need for the other supplies that the residents would have used for day-to-day survival. He found not a single canning jar. Even the cast iron cookware they would have used to make meals on the wood cookstove was missing.
“Isabella? Did you happen to see any laundry supplies? Clothespins, washboard, tubs—anything?”
She turned in a circle, looking toward the all-season creek running along the west side of the property where the onerous task of washing clothes by hand would have been accomplished. “No.” A concerned look flashed between them.
“They could have taken them and moved on. They obviously didn’t stick around here,” Isabella said, waving her hand back and forth.
“That just confirms we need to do a broader sweep before we bring the others up this way,” Will said. He walked to the edge of the cliff and looked out over the pasture below. There just weren’t enough people to secure this place. As much as Savanah had her heart set on leaving the shelter, it just was not safe to do so. He had to convince her. He must get Jason on board and the two had to put the brakes on this planned move.
He was staring off toward a distant farmhouse when a shout roused him from his thoughts.
“Will!”
It was Jack. He was moving toward Will as fast as his damaged legs would allow.
“Trouble!” Jack said, breathless.
“What? What is it? People?” Will shot back.
Jack nodded as he bent over to allow air into his lungs.
“Where? How far?”
“At the gate,” Jack said between gasps.
Will ran. He rounded the house and weaved between travel trailers and collapsed tents until the gate came into view. His heart stopped. Walker had his hands in the air. In front of him stood a giant of a man dressed in hunting camouflage and a boonie hat holding a rifle pointed at Walker’s chest.
Will stopped, dropped to one knee, and yelled. “Drop the weapon! Do it now! I will shoot you!”
“You do and I’ll drop you before your friend hits the ground,” a female voice said behind him.
Will’s heart skipped a beat—or two.
“Just lower the weapon and put your hands in the air,” she said. Will felt someone brush against him as he complied. He never took his eyes off Walker. His mind raced as he wondered where Isabella and the others were. Did they have guns trained on them as well? Where the hell was Jason?
“Unhook that sling and let your weapon drop to the ground.”
Will hesitated a second too long and he felt a rifle barrel press into the base of his skull. A shot there would kill or paralyze him. He’d be no use to his group. He complied, lowering his rifle to the ground.
“Who are you people?” the woman asked.
“What?” Will replied.
“Where did you come from?”
“We’re…” Will was about to tell her the truth that some of them were with the military but thought better of it. “We’ve been living at the FEMA shelter down in Texarkana, but we wanted to find someplace less… um… restrictive to survive this thing.” He thought that explanation would make them seem less threatening—and it was partially true.
“You with the group that used to live here?”
“No, ma’am.”
“How’d you know about it, then?”
Will hesitated. He couldn’t tell her the truth that he’d been with a military unit that had run the folks off their land and forced them into the shelter.
“Ham radio,” Will lied. He’d seen a radio tower in the back of the steel building there. He took a leap. “Before all this. We heard they were preparing.”
His cousin, Gabby, had told Will about some prepper groups up that way. After the lights went out, they were still able to communicate with one another for several months. They’d worked together to alert each other to the government’s movements. Will’s unit had been ordered to look for communications equipment.
“I got one over here,” the woman yelled.
The man gestured for Walker to head toward Will and the woman. He kept his rifle trained on Walker as they slowly approached her.
“Are we going to take them back or drop them here?” the woman asked.
Will tensed waiting for the answer. He desperately wanted to turn to see where Isabella was.
“How many are in your group?” the man asked.
Will did not want to answer that question. Firstly, he had no idea if Walker had already given them a number. Second, he wasn’t going to give away that his wife and sister were with him.
He stalled. �
�In our group?”
“You’re scoping out the place to possibly move here. How many of you will be living here?”
Will tried to read Walker’s face. He wasn’t making eye contact. His eyes were on the woman behind Will.
Will stammered, trying to think of something to say.
Walker looked at the man. “About twenty or so, I’d say. It’s a fluid number.”
Will held his breath. He respected Walker and hoped he knew what he was doing.
“We have some whose family members are adamant about going to Houston or Dallas. Of course, they don’t want to split up their families, but they also know how stupid that move would be.”
The man nodded. His features softened some. Will saw his shoulders relax. They’d found a common topic.
“So, it sort of depends on who leaves with us the day we pull out from Texarkana. Honestly, we’d like to have as many as we can get. It’s gonna take a lot of people to make this place work,” Walker continued.
“Ain’t that the truth,” the woman said.
The man lowered his rifle to the low ready and took a step back. “When are you planning on moving up here?”
Walker looked to Will. “Soon.”
“They’re talking of closing the shelter and moving everyone to the cities soon,” Will chimed in.
“They’re gonna just let you and twenty of your friends just walk off from there? I mean, they went to great lengths to round everyone up in the first place,” the woman said, stepping around Will and joining the man.
“We have a connection,” Will said. He didn’t think that fact would cause any issues. It was true. They didn’t need to know that it was a colonel and a CIA agent.
The two looked at one another. The man shrugged and stuck out his hand.
“Welcome to the neighborhood!”
Twelve
Savanah
