by Connor Mccoy
“That social worker who keeps trying to rope me in for an interview?” Sheryl frowned again. “Has he been bothering you that much?”
“He did. But he fled to Crossing Point, so we’re done with him.” Crawling a little closer to Sheryl, she added in a whisper, “But don’t talk about him around Mom because she’ll get pissed.”
Sheryl aimed a look at Domino. Seated on the other side of the campfire, she was checking her spare gun magazines.
“I hear you,” Sheryl said.
Jacob, seated near the oak tree, addressed everyone. “I think we’re good to sleep for the night. I don’t want us setting off for home in the dark. It’s only a couple of hours away. So, we could cross that distance easily in the early morning hours and still have time to do some recon before the dawn is over.”
As Jacob spoke, Brandon was sketching a rough diagram of the house in the dirt with a stick. He had formed small squares to represent each window from front to back.
Sheryl piped up, a bit nervously, as if she was out of her element. “What is recon? I mean, that’s basically just checking out the house, right?”
“Sure,” Jacob said. “It’s nothing complicated. We’re just going to figure out how many people are actually at the house. You said you saw a man and a woman. If that’s all, we probably could confront them and get them to leave without a lot of trouble, but we also have to see if they’re carrying weapons. That changes things. If they’re a couple of armed bandits, they’d probably sooner shoot us than talk with us.”
Jacob scooted closer to Brandon. “So, one of the first things we’re going to do is get close enough to the house without being seen so we can check inside the windows. A lot of them do have blinds, so if they’re closed, we may have a problem. But my guess is that whoever’s there may want to open the windows to let fresh air through. Remember, we don’t have air conditioning anymore, so sealing up a house is going to be pretty uncomfortable. I’m sure they’re going to have windows open, maybe even the back door.”
Jacob scrawled a stick figure inside one of the back windows. “And so,” he continued, “we’re going to see who we can see. Unless they’re trying to hide, to keep away from windows, I think we’re going to get a full count of who’s staying there.”
Jacob next sketched a stick figure outside the house. “We’re also going to get a look at traffic. Who’s going in, and who’s going out. If we can catch them outside, we might be able to go around, get into the house and cut them off. If they see us coming too early, they might barricade themselves inside.”
Sheryl grimaced. “This sounds like it could get ugly.”
“That’s why we need to figure out who we’re dealing with,” Jacob said. “If they have children, they might be people we can deal with. They won’t want to put their kids into a firefight any more than we would.”
It wasn’t long before Jacob wrapped up their planning. He stole away some more time with Sheryl, who seemed eager to talk to him apart from Domino and the kids.
“I was wondering how things have been,” Jacob said. “We haven’t really talked a lot in about a year.”
“Two, actually,” Sheryl said.
“Two?” Jacob’s eyes widened. “You sure?”
“That’s when I told you that long story about the run-around my apartment landlord was giving me about my plumbing and also about my co-worker…”
“Right, right.” Jacob shook his head. “I can’t believe it was that long ago. That’s when I told you about Jubilee wanting to be an MMA fighter. Did you ever get your apartment taken care of?”
“Actually, I moved. I got my first house in the Westgate neighborhood.”
“Really? Congratulations. I wish I knew. I would have whipped up a housewarming gift. I’m sure Domino would have loved to pitch in.”
Sheryl grimaced a little. “Yeah. I guess I wasn’t chomping at the bit to give you the latest news of my life.” She sighed. “I even got a pair of birds, Lacie and Carrie. Had them for about a little over a year.”
“Really? Can I see pictures of them?” Jacob winced. “Sorry. Sometimes I forget that things have changed.”
“It’s fine. I lost my phone getting here anyway. It doesn’t matter. It’s fried, worthless, all my pictures are gone.”
Jacob tried to think of what else he knew about Sheryl’s life in the city beyond her profession. “What about that guy, Parker?”
“Yeah, Parker. Oh, I dumped his ass.” Sheryl threw her head back and giggled. “I was talking to somebody else, a paralegal. His name’s Tyler. Nice guy, but a little fidgety when it comes to talking about taking long trips. I think he’s a little phobic about going overseas.” Sheryl looked off with a bit of wistfulness. “We were going to see a performance of Cats at the Saenger Theater. We pre-ordered the tickets and were going in a cab.”
“Sounds like you didn’t make it. What happened?”
Sheryl’s voice turned bitter. “Someone pulled the doggone plug on the entire world. We ordered the tickets the night before it all went to hell. I have no idea what happened to Tyler. The last thing I saw was his law firm on fire as I was running for my life down Arthur Road.”
Jacob’s lips went dry. “I’m sorry.”
Sheryl’s bitterness remained in her tone. “Yeah, everything was going great, and now it’s gone. I bet almost everyone I knew back in Chantilly is dead. And if they’re not, they will be.” She smirked. “I bet you’re glad you didn’t follow me to college. You’d be in the same boat as me now, wouldn’t you?”
“But if I was there with you, I could have helped you escape the city.”
Sheryl jabbed her finger into the woods. “But you wouldn’t have your home. Sure, somebody’s stolen it, but you still can get it back. You still can live there. You still have your life. What the hell do I have?”
“Sheryl, you can live with us,” Jacob said quickly, “My door’s always open to you.”
Sheryl chuckled. “Amazing. All this time I thought I could give you a home in the city and now…” She threw up her hands. “Turns out I was the crazy one all along.”
“Believe me, I wish I was still the nutty homesteader out in the wild. I wish none of this had happened, that you didn’t have to suffer through this, and that so many people didn’t have to die…” His voice trailed off. “I wish I could make it right for you.”
The two siblings fell quiet. Finally, Sheryl asked to break it off until tomorrow, as she wanted finally to get a peaceful night’s sleep. Jacob agreed and provided her some covers so she could sleep peacefully.
Jacob greeted the sight of his home with both joy and fury. Joy that he finally had made it back here after all the turmoil and terror of the past week, but fury that his home was occupied by interlopers. It was like he had journeyed all this way only to run into a solid brick wall.
He and his family had traversed the woods to the fence that separated his property from the surrounding land. He had picked a place where vines grew along the fence and a large tree overshadowed the barrier. This provided a good place to take watch over the back of the house without being seen.
In addition to Jacob, Brandon, Jubilee and Domino all held their own binoculars or telescopes. “Let’s have a look at home, shall we?” Jacob asked as he raised his binoculars to his eyes.
Except for the movement of livestock and the swaying of the crops with the wind, the back fields of the Avery residence remained still. A few minutes of observation found no signs of the interlopers.
“Let’s go around to the side.” Jacob pointed to the line of trees slightly apart from the fence. “But stick to cover. We might be far enough away from the house, but I don’t want to take chances.”
Jacob led them through the trees until he found a good vantage point to observe the side of the house. He insisted they climb down on their bellies to look at the house, since the land was pretty open between the house and this part of the fence. The shadow of the nearby trees should keep them concealed.
“I hope they’re early risers or this could take all day,” Domino said.
Domino got her wish in a hurry. A tall, lanky man with a light brown complexion wandered past one of the side windows. Jacob drank in every detail, but what he really wanted was a read into the man’s soul. Was he a desperate man seeking shelter, or a thief? Jacob had confirmed part of Sheryl’s account, but so far nothing more.
“We got one of them. He looks like he’s headed for the kitchen. Let’s move up to the front of the house.”
A short time later, Jacob and his party had set up watch where they could view the scene inside the kitchen.
“Ow!” Sheryl rubbed her right arm. “Sorry. This is just a little…”
“Tight and prickly. I know,” Domino said with some sympathy.
Unfortunately, the only place they could observe the kitchen was this spot nestled under a patch of very thick tree branches. The branches were small and prickly in places, forming a kind of thicket that covered much of the ground. Jacob and his family were forced to crawl under it to observe the people in their house.
“Just don’t move quickly,” Jacob said as he trained his binoculars on the house. Then he realized they now were close enough to his front driveway that he could put eyes on there as well.
“Brandon, can you crawl to the right end and turn your scope out to the driveway?” he asked. “Just in case. I want to cover the front door at the same time.”
“Roger.” Brandon crawled away from them until he reached the right spot to observe their front yard.
“Well, I definitely see the lady Sheryl was talking about,” Domino said. “A little shorter than the man. I don’t see any weapons on her, but I can’t see past her waist. The sink’s in the way.”
Jacob closely watched the man and the woman in the kitchen, but as the minutes passed, he still could not spot their weapons, if they carried any. The windows were not big enough to show off the entire kitchen.
“No one else is joining them,” Domino said. “If they had kids, wouldn’t they join their parents for breakfast?”
“Maybe they have a baby,” Sheryl said.
Jacob’s face tightened. He hoped the interlopers hadn’t brought a child that young with them. That would make extricating the couple even harder.
A faint rumble pricked Jacob’s ears. Was it about to rain? The sky was fairly cloudy, but hardly suggested an eminent downpour.
Brandon’s voice exploded. “Hey! There’s a truck coming!”
“A truck?” Domino turned her head.
“Where?” Jubilee spun her head around and her cheek struck a branch. “Ow! Shit!”
“Calm down!” From where Jacob laid, he could not see the road leading to his house. “Brandon, what does it look like?”
“It’s a delivery truck, Dad. It says ‘Corbin Transportation Lines’ on it!”
Jacob pulled his binoculars away. “Damn.” He started squirming back toward the opening of the thicket. “We’ve got to hurry, get to a place where we can watch the driveway.”
“Don’t tell me it’s headed for our house!” Domino said as she began crawling toward the opening.
Jacob winced as a branch cut his arm. “There’s no way they can miss it! If they’re looking for fuel and resources, they’re almost certain to look for homes as well!”
Jacob nearly tripped over a tree root as he barreled toward the fence that separated his home’s driveway from the land beyond it. “Jacob! Wait!” Sheryl cried. “They will see you!” His sister grabbed his arm. “Get down!”
Jacob was in such a frenzy he barely noticed the truck pulling into his driveway. Hell, he had expected the truck to do just that. It took his sister to pull him back to reality.
And I thought I had it bad with just those two in my house. Now what? Are all those men from the other night going to swarm over my property and steal what I’ve earned over the years? Like hell! But he managed to quell his rage enough to duck down under the cover of the hanging tree branches.
“Dad!” Jubilee called from a small thicket similar to the one they had pulled out of moments before. It laid right up against the fence. The space was large enough for them to observe from right against the fence.
“Good going, Jubilee.” Jacob joined her under the brush. The rest of his family followed.
To Jacob’s relief, they were nestled under the brush just as the driver’s side and passenger doors of the cab opened. At the same time, the sliding door in the back of the cargo compartment slid open. Three men jumped out of the back and headed toward the front, meeting the driver. However, whoever had been sitting across from the driver was waiting.
Two interlopers opened the front door of the Avery home and walked outside. This was the cue for the man in the passenger seat to step out into the open.
Domino jabbed her finger in the man’s direction. “That is him! I know it! It’s Sykes.”
Chapter Seven
“Sykes?” Jacob turned to his wife. “You mean Jimmy Sykes? The guy who…”
“Yeah, it’s him, the bastard,” Domino said.
Jacob’s stare was withering as he studied the man. He walked with a broad stride, with each step of his boots making a soft clomping sound on the ground. He was very fit, with a burly chest filling out the top of his buttoned-up flannel shirt. As he walked, he turned his head side to side smoothly, aiming a smile at Jacob’s land.
The sight of Sykes filled Jacob with more and more contempt. This guy just looked wrong. His shirt and jeans were too clean, and Jacob wondered how much soil actually was on the man’s boots. Sykes acted as if he was putting on a show and was enjoying every damn minute of it.
“Well, well.” Sykes approached the man. “Guy Wickers. Terri Boss. Looks like you’ve found quite a winner.” He nodded at the homestead behind Wickers. “Not the fanciest house around here, but it’s got a healthy stock of animals.”
“With proper breeding, they’ll last for years,” Wickers said.
“Say, has the house’s previous owner showed up?” Sykes asked.
“No. his name is Jacob Avery. He has a wife and two kids. None of them have shown up yet. The Averys own a car and a black pickup, but the pickup’s missing,” Wicker said.
“They probably hit the road during the EMP. If they weren’t skewered on the asphalt, they’re probably stranded somewhere or maybe they fell prey to some of the baser elements out there. What a shame. They had kids, didn’t you say? Well, we might as well make use of their land.” Sykes wagged his finger at the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. “All this here, it belongs to me now.”
Jacob tightened his grip. Like hell it does, you posturing jackass!
“So, how many hands am I going to get? With a few strong backs, we can start turning out a big load for you, maybe even expand the fields,” Wickers said.
“Actually, you’re not going to get quite as many hands as you were expecting. Now, I apologize for that. Really, I do, but right now I need my strong hands out here collecting all the fuel they can find. In fact…” Sykes’s grin widened.
“We’re about to make one hell of a big haul. There’s a full-service station at the edge of Mecklersville and we have secured enough tanks and hoses to drain that beauty dry. Thousands of gallons of fuel. No police and no army to stop me.” He chuckled. “In the next few days, I’ll have enough gas to run my trucks for years. And since only I have a little fleet of trucks to carry food across the state, why, I might as well be king of Virginia.”
“Sounds like you’re the man with the plan, Mister S. But I still need help running this place,” Wickers said. “Terri and I can’t make this place work by ourselves.”
“Ah! I did think of that.” Sykes turned to his men by the truck and whistled. “You see, your new homestead is a pretty cozy place. It has “family values” written all over it. So, what you two need are some kids to give the place some sparkle.”
As soon as he finished his sentence, the men reached into the truck and help
ed out a girl. She appeared to be close to adolescent age, at least younger than Jubilee but older than Brandon. The newcomer looked around with a sour look on her face.
The men led her to Sykes, who waved to her as she approached. The girl maintained a sour look, as if she didn’t want to be there. “This is Courtney. She’s going to be your new daughter. A little moody at times, so I’m told. A little country living is just the thing to lift her spirits.”
Wickers and Boss frowned. Whatever they were expecting, Courtney was not it.
“But, what’s a family without a son?” Sykes aimed his smile at Courtney again. “And a big brother to watch and protect you?”
Almost on cue, Sykes’s men led a young man out of the truck. He was tall, so tall that he towered over the two men who were leading him, and with his build, he seemed like he could tear a small tree out of the land with his bare hands. He sported a dirty pair of dark workpants and a black T-shirt torn at the collar. He clomped around in work boots that were untied and a little loose around his feet.
“Arnie!” Sykes extended his hand toward the approaching behemoth of a man. “Meet your new family!”
Wickers and Boss backed up one large step. Courtney just grimaced as if she was expecting this.
Sykes reached out and took Wickers by the shoulder. “Arnold Lerner. Very strong, but not very bright in the head.”
“He’s a retard,” Courtney said.
“Courtney.” Sykes scolded her a little. “That’s not nice. We call them ‘special people,’ and Arnie is very special indeed.”
Turning back to Wickers, he said, “Arnie actually spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. He came from a very bad family. My advice is not to drink coffee around him. It acts as a trigger. But he will do as you tell him, you just have to be very specific and show him how you want things done.”
Wickers eyed Arnold warily. Arnold was looking at the farmland with curiosity, as if the place was a new wonderland. “How bright is he?” Wickers asked.
