by Connor Mccoy
Courtney almost believed it. After losing her parents at a very young age, she was passed through the foster system from one inattentive caretaker to another. Her last one, a kind grandmother named Lily, had shepherded her through her eleventh and twelfth birthdays. However, cancer stole Lily away the day before the world shut down.
She turned to her side and ran her hand down her derriere. Lily told her she was a normal girl who had nothing to worry about. Maybe. But being stuffed in this room that belonged to some gonzo kickboxer girl sent her confidence plummeting.
The more Wickers watched Arnold Lerner, the more he wondered if Sykes was playing an intentionally cruel joke on them.
The grown man let out a “Yippee!” as he flung himself against the hanging punching bag in the Averys’ den. He grabbed onto it and let his legs go limp. Clearly, he wanted to swing from the bag, but he was too big for the bag to lift him off his feet. If the chain hanging the bag from the ceiling was any less secure, the bag would have broken off already.
“Arnie,” Wickers said with as much serenity as he could muster, “it’s dark outside. You should head to your new room so you can get some sleep. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.”
Arnie turned his head. “Bed?”
“Yes. It’s bedtime.”
“Bedtime?” Arnie looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Its hands were frozen at 10:07. “Oh. Bedtime at ten.”
Sheepishly, Arnie put his head down and walked out of the den, brushing past Wickers. So ten o’clock in the evening must have been Arnie’s last bedtime wherever he had stayed. Thankfully, the clock had frozen at a little past ten in the morning, but Arnie hadn’t noticed when the clock had stopped earlier and couldn’t tell the difference.
I wonder where Sykes found this guy? Wickers thought.
Wickers successfully had led Arnie to his new room. It was where the boy Brandon had stayed. Unfortunately, the bed was too small for Arnie, but the child-like man did not mind that his legs hung off the end. He seemed happy to have a bed at all.
Boss chose that moment to wander through the open door. “How’s your luck been?” she asked.
“Not too bad so far,” Wickers whispered back.
Arnie’s eyes were droopy, but once Boss walked in, he sat up. “Will you sing?” Arnie asked.
“Sing?” Boss frowned. “Sing what? Does this look like American Idol or something?”
“Gertie sings to me. I go to sleep,” Arnie said.
Wickers grimaced. “I think he wants you to sing him to sleep,” he said to Boss. “His last caretaker must have done that for him.”
Boss snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m up for that.”
Arnie’s eyes widened. “Sing? Sing?” He sounded like he was going to panic at the thought of being denied a nighttime serenade.
Wickers’s grimace deepened. “Terri, maybe just one song?”
Boss gritted her teeth. “Guy…”
“If it gets him to sleep,” Wickers quickly said.
Boss tugged her shirt hard. “Fine. Fine.” She aimed a poisonous smile at Arnie. “All right, baby, I’ll sing for you.”
At last Arnie went to sleep after Boss sang to him…four times.
Once the child-like man was under his covers and dozing off, Boss and Wickers retreated down the hall into the bedroom where the Avery couple slept. Once Wickers shut the door, the pair spoke freely.
Boss folded her arms. “You know I said I never wanted kids. I think after today I’d rather blow my brains out than spend one more minute with these two, especially that girl. She’s a regular smartass who needs a good smack in the face.”
Wickers shook his head. “I understand this is not what we wanted.”
“You’re damn right it’s not what we wanted! You think Sykes is going to send us any real help? He’s played both of us for fools! He’s building his own goddamn kingdom out there. All he wants from us is the food this farm can provide for him.”
Wickers bit his bottom lip. “I’m starting to have my doubts about this whole thing myself.”
Boss took Wickers by the arms and whispered. “Then let’s ditch these two and get the hell out of here. We just sneak out one night with a big haul, take all the canned food we can carry and just run. What is Sykes going to do, send his men to hunt us down? He won’t give a shit about us. We’ll run to someplace else, like Kentucky or Iowa, someplace far. Hunker down and live the rest of our lives.”
A smile crossed Wickers’s lips. “I’m starting to like the sound of that. How about we use these two for a little while? Instead of working for Sykes, they’ll work for us. And then one night.” He pushed his hand through the air. “We make for the hills.”
Chapter Nine
“The last light is out.” Jacob pulled down his telescope. “Looks like they’re out for the night.”
Beside him, Jubilee scowled. She had spotted the candlelight coming through her bedroom window. “She better not touch my boxing gloves.”
“Maybe she’s sleeping in my room,” Brandon said with a touch of wistfulness.
“You wish,” Jubilee said.
With a light chuckle, Domino turned to her two children. “I think you two need to get some shut-eye. We’ll wake you before we start the fireworks.”
Domino led the two of them back into the woods toward the campsite. Jacob sat back, exhaustion overtaking him. Although he had not too do much traveling today, the strain and the stress of spying on his own house and devising a plan of attack had caught up with him.
Sheryl was starting after Domino. She did not avert her eyes even after the three of them walked out of sight. Jacob hoped Sheryl’s opinion of his wife had softened.
“Doms is a great mother,” Jacob said. “I couldn’t ask for a better woman to take my family through whatever life has thrown at us.”
Sheryl turned her eyes toward Jacob. “It’s so crazy. Here are we, finally together again, and we’re planning a commando raid.” She rubbed her fingers across her chin. “I guess she would be the perfect mom for this.”
Jacob frowned. “She was the perfect mom even before the EMP zapped everything. I kept trying to tell you that.”
“Are we going to settle that score right now?” Sheryl asked.
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
Sheryl leaned a little closer, her face hardening. “Who’s picking the fight here? I haven’t said anything about Domino since we met up. It’s great she knows how to take care of your kids and fight like Lady Rambo. Really. I mean, what do you want me to say?”
Jacob’s throat caught. “Maybe…maybe you misjudged her? I know you never got along with her.”
“Because she took away my brother and went off into the wilderness!” Sheryl winced as if she hadn’t meant to go that far. “Fine. If you want me to bow down and kiss your wife’s feet, that’s fine.”
“Sheryl, that’s not what I want. You never accepted that I wanted this life. Doms didn’t talk me into it. It was mostly the other way around. We both wanted a new start. You saw things differently and I respected that, but you…” Jacob turned away. “You saw it as you versus Doms and you lost. You never got over that. But it wasn’t a contest.”
The two turned away from each other. Sheryl broke the silence by saying, “I swore to myself I’d take care of you once you got out of school. I wanted to be the head of the family. I always pictured you in a nice suit with a long-haired blonde and a boy and a girl, spending Thanksgiving or Christmas with me in my big city apartment.” She tilted her head in Jacob’s direction. “I thought I was going to save you. And then Domino came along and pushed me out of the picture.”
Jacob’s eyes met Sheryl’s. He could see the hurt in them.
“There’s enough room in my life for my wife and my big sis. I didn’t move out here to cut off myself from everyone.”
Sheryl looked down at her legs. “I guess I have been unfair to Domino.” Her face hardened again. “I don’t know what to say to her, maybe
not even to you. I just need to accept what’s going on, and I’m not there yet. When I can…” She climbed to her feet. “I’m sure things will be fine then.”
Jacob let her walk off. Perhaps I shouldn’t have pushed her. He wanted Sheryl to respect Domino, but he may have come off as gloating, that his life choices always had been right and hers had been wrong.
He cursed at himself. He thought Domino deserved better from Sheryl, but he had goaded her way too much too early.
Jacob reclined against the tree near his wife, softly cursing under his breath. “Still pissed about the house?” Domino asked, with a hint of amusement. “I’m sure it’s kicking your butt to think about it, but we’ll have it back tomorrow.”
“It’s not that.” His eyes fixed on his sleeping sister a few feet away. “I think I didn’t handle things with Sheryl very well.”
“What didn’t you handle?” Domino leaned a little closer. “Still arguing over whether living out here was a good idea?”
“Not that.” Jacob turned to face her. “You wish things were better between you and Sheryl, right?”
Domino seemed to give it some thought. “I guess I do. We’ve never had it bad. She just lives in her own world and I live in mine with you.” She flicked the end of Jacob’s nose.
“I know, but I think that was the problem. Sheryl’s got that big sister thing going on about her. She thought she knew the best move for both of us, to get good paying jobs and live in the best neighborhoods away from all the dregs.” Jacob scooted up against the tree. “It seemed like we made the better move. I think I was pushing Sheryl’s button on that point because I wanted her to respect you more. In her mind, you won. You took me away.”
Domino chuckled. “Well, she couldn’t marry you, Jay.”
Jacob laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” Domino inched nearer to Jacob. “I never thought I was competing against her. If she resented me, hell, I didn’t know and I actually don’t care.” She sighed. “But I know you do, and if she ends up living with us, we’re going to have to get along.”
“I’ll try to take it easy with her,” Jacob said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and it’s pretty stupid to try settling old scores.”
Domino leaned into Jacob’s chest. “Yeah.”
Jacob had allowed his party to sleep through much of the night. He exchanged shifts with Domino so she could wake him up when the night hit astronomical dawn. That would be the time to make their move.
After Domino woke up Jacob, he roused Sheryl and the children. They already had prepared their gear, so little more was needed to get ready. Jacob and Domino did not plan to bring much, just their weapons.
They gathered at the fence that bordered the Averys’ back yard. This part of the fence was the easiest to climb over.
“Please be careful.” Jubilee’s nervousness was understandable. Who knew how this was going to turn out?
“We will.” Domino hugged her daughter, then moved on to her son.
“Watch yourself,” Sheryl said to Jacob.
“Compared to what we’ve been through, this should be a piece of cake.” Jacob chuckled. “We’ll be fine.” Leaning close to her ear, he said, much more quietly, “But just in case anything does happen, we’re very close to Skylar. You know that town, right? There are some good people there. We haven’t checked there since the EMP hit but I’m sure it’s in better shape than most towns. Take the kids there.”
Sheryl nodded once. “Okay.”
Jacob drew back. “Alright. With any luck, tonight will be the last night for a long time that we have to sleep under the stars.” He fished his fingers in between his wife’s. “Ready?”
“Ten kinds of ready,” she said with a smile.
As Jacob’s boots touched the grass on the other side of the fence, he muttered a silent thanks to himself that he had not outfitted this area with barbed wire. Of course, that omission probably had contributed to that jackass trespassing on his land and shooting his daughter in the first place, but he vowed not to kick himself over that oversight any longer.
He took hold of Domino’s arm. They had avoided creating torches, as they still couldn’t be sure no one in the house was awake. It only would take one of them gazing out the window and seeing a pair of orange flames approaching the homestead to set off an alarm.
Fortunately, Jacob knew his land. He had spent years cultivating it, creating its crop rows, building pens for his livestock, and setting up a chicken coop. While he may not know the land down to its inches, discerning where everything was proved to be simple. Still, he did not rush. He didn’t have to do so. The sun would not break the horizon for a while longer.
The trip to the house had its bumps—literally. Jacob misjudged exactly where the cow pen was as well as the chicken coop. Although, fortunately, he didn’t hurt himself. He simply corrected his course while continuing to lead his wife along.
The house lay just ahead. In the darkness, it looked like a simple shape, almost like a solid wall.
Okay, this is the west side. It has to be. I didn’t walk far enough to go around the house. I know that much.
So, if that was the case, the den should be just ahead. He took even lighter steps, fearing that anyone inside might hear the crunching of grass and soil.
All the while, Domino remained silent. She knew that speaking out loud could give them away. The two of them were truly of one mind. They knew what they had to do.
Jacob crept closer to where he knew the den wall would be. Once his shoulder tapped a solid surface, he crouched down to the ground and felt along the house’s exterior. Where’s that gap? I ought to find the underside of the house right…now!
His fingers had discovered the gap. Upon finding the soil under the house, he pushed his arm up until it hit underneath the den floor. This part of the house was built on raised cinderblocks, providing enough space for an adult to slip underneath if he or she crawled.
I just hope I don’t run into any cats or raccoons under here. His fencing had helped keep away a lot of unwanted wildlife, so he felt reasonably sure he wouldn’t run into any nasty surprises.
He dropped down onto his stomach. His wife let go of his arm, but would tug on his belt and then his leg as he crawled under the house to let him know that she was still with him. Jacob went nice and slow. He didn’t have reason to hurry.
Once he was submerged fully underneath his home, he felt Domino clutching his ankle. She now was shimming under the house behind him. Jacob kept crawling to allow her to get underneath the house with him.
Okay, Jacob, now you just have to find the secret latch. I wish I had thought of how to find it in the dark. I didn’t think I’d be under here without a flashlight. He had done a few practice runs with the secret door, so he should remember what the route was like. Did anything mark the trail under the house to the latch?
A slam against his head cut his thoughts short.
“Ow! For crying out loud!”
“What?” Domino said. “Jay, what happened?”
“I hit my head!” Jacob rubbed his forehead. It was pretty solid, too, like metal. “What the hell was that?” He groped in the darkness and felt something cold and cylindrical. Pipes. He had hit part of his plumbing.
“It was the pipes,” he said, though knowing that didn’t make the pain go away any faster.
But maybe it was a blessing in disguise. He remembered seeing the pipes before during his practice runs. “Okay, maybe this actually will help me. I went down through the secret door. I crawled. The pipes were to my right. The pipes are now in front of me. So, we just need to turn right, and the door should be that way.”
He crawled, though more slowly this time, not just because he feared another hit to the noggin, but so he could find the place where the concrete overhead would turn to metal. Jacob had outfitted the latch with a sheet of metal. He didn’t want to use wood for fear that it would attract termites, plus metal was stronger and a better r
einforcement.
The space is supposed to open up a little. I’ll know soon when I’ve found the metal sheet.
His fingers felt and felt along the concrete until they reached air. He pushed upward a few more inches and encountered damp metal.
“Got it!” Jacob scampered until he was sure he was right underneath the metal sheet.
“Thank God,” Domino whispered.
Jacob started groping the sheet. “Okay, let’s find the latches. Remember how it works? I can uncouple it from underneath and take it down. That will expose the door.”
He soon discovered the first latch, a rolling pin on one end of the sheet that Jacob easily could slide loose. “One down,” he said. Now for the second one.
Locating the other latch was no problem. Sliding it loose, however, was.
“Shit.” He pushed on it. It didn’t budge.
“Jay, what’s wrong?” Domino whispered.
“I don’t know. It’s stuck.” Jacob released the latch to feel along the metal close by. It wasn’t as smooth. In some places the texture was flakey.
“Rust,” he whispered, “the thing must be rusted shut.”
“Rust? Didn’t you treat the metal?” Domino asked.
“I did. I treated the metal on both ends. I do it every now and then.”
Domino’s fear turned to annoyance. “How long is every now and then?”
“I know I did this door about three months ago.” He sighed. “But we did have a few bad floods from those heavy rainstorms last month. The moisture buildup under here must have been too great.”
Domino let out a sigh. “It can’t be that bad off. Can you knock it loose?”
Jacob groped his belt. He could knock the pin through with a hammer, though the tight quarters would present a challenge. Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought such a tool. He did carry a number of smaller devices, mostly intended to pick locks in case something went wrong with one of his doors.
