Stranded Box Set

by Theresa Shaver

  When Alex straightened up and saw Emily’s expression, she raised her eyebrows.

  “What’s so funny?”

  Emily’s grin widened. “Just thinking about last year. If Josh had come across you like that you would have green neon paint splattered all over your butt and a heck of a bruise. You wouldn’t have been able to sit for days!” she laughed.

  Alex started to giggle. “That bugger always tried for a butt shot! He didn’t think it was so funny when we ambushed him from behind and coated his rear with pink neon. I thought Quinn was going to pee himself laughing when Josh limped out of the trees and turned around to show him!”

  They were lost in the happy memory when a distant gunshot cut off their laughter and had them dropping flat to the ground. All joy left them when the hard reality came crashing back that it wouldn’t be paintballs headed their way if they got caught.

  After a tense minute with no more shots, Alex grabbed the glasses and peaked over the edge. The shot had come from far away and when she couldn’t see anyone in range they moved on. They stayed silent for the rest of the way and when they came to the end of the gully they cautiously looked around before leaving its protection. This was the scariest part so far. They were surrounded by open fields with no cover except for calf-high grass. There was no choice but to move out into the open so they just ran until they came to the fence that separated the two properties.

  Diving down next to it, the two friends just laid still, and let their heartbeats slow down as they got their breath back. Before long, they were moving again as they followed the fence line. It was ten minutes later that Emily came to a stop and motioned for Alex to hand over the glasses. Straight ahead of them, in the distance, was the outline of the wooden cattle shelter. It was on a slight rise and from the other side of it, they would be able to see down into Emily’s barnyard. There was nothing between them and it, but they had no way of knowing what was on the other side. Emily looked at Alex who just shrugged so she turned the glasses back towards the west and was happy to see only empty fields.

  Stowing the glasses again, Alex held down the lowest barbed wire running through the fence and Emily climbed through. She did the same for Alex, and then they both made the mad dash towards the cattle shelter. Just as they were about to top the rise, they both threw themselves down to the ground and struggled to catch their breaths. Using her elbows to pull herself forward, Alex advanced until she could peek over the top and see if anyone was in sight. She couldn’t see anyone around but her sight was blocked by the shelter, so she closed her eyes and just listened. After a few minutes of only hearing the soft sound of the breeze rustling the grass and background insect noises, she waved the all clear to Emily, and they moved the rest of the way up and over to the back side of the shelter. Going separate ways, the girls each took a side and edged around the corners. A quick wave from Emily and they moved around the shelter’s sides towards the front. They stayed crouched down as they met in the middle and moved into the shelter and behind a dry water trough.

  They rested for a minute and gulped down more water before Alex handed the binoculars back to Emily and she moved over to the wall and edged out to the opening again. Emily spent a good five minutes staring through the glasses as she took in the changes to her home. At one point, Alex saw her tense up, but then her shoulders relaxed. Alex was getting anxious to know what was happening when Emily finally let out a breath and lowered the glasses. She came over and sat down next to Alex without saying a word. Alex studied her best friend’s face but she could find no clue to what Emily had seen.

  “What did you see? Did you see your dad?” she finally asked.

  Emily passed the binoculars to Alex and nodded her head. “Yeah, he’s there. He seems fine.”

  Alex waited for more but Emily just looked down at her raised knees.

  “What is it? What’s wrong, Em?” Alex asked in confusion.

  “Nothing…I don’t know. It’s just…after all this time away, everything we’ve been through to make it home, it’s not supposed to feel this way. It’s like…making it home was a race and the prize was supposed to be mom and dad waiting here to make it all better. Now WE have to make it all better. Arggg, I don’t know how to explain it! I just feel let down for some reason.”

  Alex turned and put her arm around her friend’s shoulders. “I get it. I really do. It does feel wrong. Our parents have always been there to take care of us and fix any major problems we’ve had but now we have to fix our problems instead. I guess this means we’re grownups now.” She huffed out her own frustrated breath. “I always thought it would be fun. You know? We would get our own place and a cute car and go out to restaurants and pubs and we would have so much fun. Now we have this and it’s not fun at all!”

  Emily leaned her head against Alex’s and they stayed there for a while thinking about all the things that might have been if the world had stayed the same. Both girls were too practical to indulge in a pity party for long so after a few minutes Emily sat up and nudged Alex.

  “Come on. Take a look and see if you can figure out what they’re doing down there. I could see where they did a lot of planting but right now it looks like almost all of them are building something and I have no idea what it is.”

  Alex nodded and whipped a stray tear from her cheek before standing and taking her own long look at the activity going on around Emily’s home. After quickly scanning the nearby fields and noting where the planting had been done, she focused in on the construction site. There were piles of lumber stacked to the side and a long, one-story building was being framed in. It was hard to tell from this distance but using the barn for scale, she guessed it was around a hundred feet long. The framing that had gone up so far suggested that there would be multiple rooms. Looking away from the construction, she focused on the people in the yard and quickly spotted six guards. They were easy to spot as they were the only ones with weapons and they were also all sitting or standing around not working. A smile came to her face when she spotted Emily’s dad carrying some two by fours across the yard. He looked strong and healthy but it was hard to tell from this distance. Seeing all she was going to, she dropped the glasses and turned back to her friend.

  “I don’t know what they are going to use that for. I can’t see these guys caring about more housing for our people so maybe it’s for food storage. They will need somewhere to put the harvest when it comes in. What I do know is that it won’t matter. We’re going to take these bastards out and I think I have an idea on how to do that!”

  Emily smiled at Alex’s fierce expression. “Well, pull up a piece of trough and fill me in!”

  Alex sat down and thought for a minute before explaining. “Okay, so far it looks like there are six guards at each farm. We’ll have to see what Josh and David find out but let’s just say I’m right. Cooper was told that there are around sixty bad guys in the gang. Looks like we have twenty-four on the farms and we took out seven on the highway - leaving twenty-nine or thirty still in town. That’s still way too many for us to take on so we have to get that number down. Follow me so far?” At Emily’s nod, she continued. “Okay, so Dr. Mack said the guards rotate out on Sunday when they take everyone to town. What if on Saturday night we take out the guards on each farm? There’s only six at each place so we should be able to manage that many with all of us. Now here’s the tricky part. We need to make it look like those guards all took off. When no one shows up in town on Sunday, they will either send a couple guys out to find out what’s going on or they will send the whole guard rotation. Either way works for us. We fill our people in on the plan and split up all the guns we have between the farms. Our people will need to stay locked in the barns and pretend that they were locked in and left there when the first group of guards took off. If only a few guys come out to check on them, then they play possum until the six-man team comes out. Once the full team is back in place then our people spring the trap and take them out. So, let’s do the math. The first gro
up of twenty-four guards, the second group of twenty-four guards and the seven we took out on the highway leaving how many in town?”

  Emily was nodding. “Five.”

  “That’s right, five bad guys against the eight of us and all the freed people from the farms.” Alex finished.

  Emily thought about it for a minute before responding, “Okay. Here’s the flip side of that. They managed to take over our whole town and have kept control for just over a month so whoever is in charge isn’t stupid. He might believe that something happened to his guys on the road or that they took off but is he going to believe that twenty-four of his men just took off? Doubtful. Next, say they are idiots and the first part of the plan works perfectly. Now there are five very desperate bad guys in town with most of the women and children as hostages. What’s to stop them from killing them one by one until the town surrenders again?”

  Alex scowled in frustration. “Damn it! We need to know what’s happening in town. Hopefully, Cooper and Dara will get some good info and we’ll be able to figure that out. All I can come up with is infiltration.” At Emily’s confused expression, she explained, “While everything is going down out on the farms, the eight of us are in town. The girls find a way to get into the school with weapons and the boys take up positions around the school. We take out whoever is in the school from the inside and then lock it down to keep the women and kids safe. The boys take out anyone outside of the school. Anyway, it’s just a rough idea for now. Run it by the others when you get back to base and we’ll see what the others found out today.”

  Emily frowned at the reminder that Alex was going on a solo mission. She realized that it was getting late in the afternoon and if she wanted to get to base and back before Alex made her move then they’d have to get a move on. She stood up and shouldered her pack.

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here. We still have to make it back across the fields, and if you’re going to get to Mrs. Moore’s house and then back by dark, we have to move it.”

  “You're right, let’s take a scan around in all directions before we move out,” Alex agreed.

  They scanned all the directions around them and made the quick dash back down the rise. Once they were through the fence, they backtracked the way they’d come and were quickly back in the half-cover of the gully. The trip back seemed to take a fraction of the time now that they weren’t anxious about what they would discover. They made the last dash to the tree line without seeing anyone and both of the girls found comfort being back in the cool, dim protection of the forest. When they made it back to the clearing where they had lunch, they dropped their packs and drank from their water bottles. A quick snack of beef jerky was had in silence. Alex’s thoughts were back on her father and the medicine he desperately needed. Emily was plotting the fastest route back to the bikes. She didn’t have to backtrack the way they’d come this morning so she would make better time getting back. She was dreading Quinn and Josh’s reaction when they found out what her stubborn best friend had planned.

  The girls stood and embraced each other before pulling apart. Emily yanked Alex’s cap further down on her head.

  “Keep your head down and be safe!”

  Alex nodded and held up her hand for a slap. “Cake!”

  Emily slapped her palm. “Pie!”

  And with a cheeky grin, they both said, “Don’t split!”

  Once again, the best friends split up in this dangerous, new world.

  Chapter Five

  Alex took a deep breath of the cool moist air in the trees. This was her favorite time of year in the forest. Everything was new and green, but the mosquito population hadn’t exploded into a flying menace yet. She moved quickly and with confidence down the familiar trail. She knew the exact route to take that would get her closest to Mrs. Moore’s house without having to leave the trees. She wondered if anyone had looted her teacher’s home and felt a pang of sadness at not knowing her fate. She smiled to herself as she pictured the formidable older woman. If anyone could survive in the city, it would be Mrs. Moore. It was hard not to dwell on the state of the world and how nothing would ever be the same, but she pushed those thoughts away and tried to stay focused on her own little piece of the world and what needed to be done. She was relieved to know her father was alive but her mind kept going to her mom and what she was going through. How hard it must be for the people trapped in town, not knowing what was happening to their husbands. She prayed that the men holding them weren’t abusing the women and the rage that flashed through her at the thought had her quickening her pace.

  As Alex approached the next road she had to cross, she slowed down and listened for any sounds that would alert her to danger. Hearing only the birds in the trees, she stepped out of the trees and looked both ways. As soon as she saw that it was clear, she dashed out and jumped over the ditch and across the road and into the trees on the other side. She wasn’t as familiar with this area, but she knew that there was one house between her and Mrs. Moore’s property. Alex didn’t want to approach the houses from the front so she planned on circling around behind them and coming from the rear. That way she could stay in the trees and watch the house before getting closer.

  It only took a few minutes for her to see the first house through the trees and she paused to listen for any noises. Hearing nothing, she continued on until she saw the outline of a shed behind Mrs. Moore’s home. Keeping the shed between her and the house, she moved closer to the tree line and the backyard. Kneeling behind a bush, she scanned the ground behind the shed looking for the cellar doors that Mrs. Moore had told her about. The grass had grown a bit wild and it was hard for Alex to see what she was looking for from her location, so she moved parallel to the yard and took a good long look at the house. Her heart sank when she saw the back door standing open. Someone had been to the house and that meant there was a good chance that all of the supplies had been stolen. She just had to hope that no one had discovered the cellar hidden somewhere behind the shed. Movement caught her eye and she almost laughed when a squirrel scampered out the open door and rose up on its hind legs on the back step. It chittered away for a few seconds before turning and going back into the house. That was all Alex needed to see to know that there were no humans in the house.

  Taking one more look around the yard and trees that surrounded the yard, she rose and walked across the grass to the back door. She climbed the steps and pushed the door open even farther. It was dim, but she could see a mudroom and an open door that led further into the house. On soft feet, she made her way through the mudroom and peeked around the corner into a ransacked kitchen. Hearing no sounds from within, she stepped into the room. All of the cabinet doors were hanging open and most of the drawers had been pulled out and their contents dumped on the floor. There were empty shelves in some of the cabinets and Alex guessed that food had once been stored in them.

  Angry squirrel chatter filled the room making Alex turn towards an archway that led to the dining living room combo. She shooed the critter away and inspected each room on the main floor. The place was a mess and no care had been taken when whoever had searched the place went through it. She had to stop herself from cleaning up the disaster. If anyone came back here it had to remain as they’d left it.

  Once she’d cleared the main floor, she took her flashlight from her pack and opened the basement door. Alex knew that Mrs. Moore’s supplies would be gone but she felt the need to make certain before she went for the teacher’s backup supplies. She shined her light down the unfinished basement steps and was happy to see that it wasn’t completely black down there. Alex ignored the shudder that ran down her back as countless teen horror movies came to mind. Her head screamed out the classic “don’t go down into the dark basement” line as she stepped down onto the creaky stairs. By the time she made it to the bottom, her heart was pounding and she gave a little laugh at herself when the scariest thing she saw was spilled laundry soap dusting the floor.

  The two small windows let en
ough light in that she didn’t really need her flashlight, but she kept it clutched in her hand anyway. There wasn’t a lot to see. In one corner was a pair of laundry machines and a small utility shelf with all of its cleaning supplies thrown on the floor. Turning away from that, she panned her light on the area furthest from the windows and saw a small sitting area. There was a table with a sewing machine that had been knocked over and some bolts of fabric and that was it. She was disappointed that there was nothing that she could use and turned away to leave but something in the back of her mind made her stop and turn back. She looked over the small area again and frowned. Why was it so small? The laundry and sewing area didn’t even make up half the size of what a basement should be. Mrs. Moore had told her that the basement was full of supplies so where would they have been stored? Other than the utility shelves, the walls were bare. Her teacher wouldn’t have just piled her things on the floor so where was all the shelving or storage containers? Alex scanned the walls more closely looking for another door but came up empty. Three of the walls were bare concrete. The only finished wall was behind the sewing table and it was wallpapered with an ugly pattern. That one wall was so out of place from the rest of the unfinished room that she couldn’t stop looking at it. She finally walked over to it and started to run her hand along it. As soon as she felt the slight bump in the wall, the answer clicked in her head and a grin broke out across her face.

  Alex stuffed the flashlight into her pocket and used both hands to feel the wall. It took only seconds for her to find the second bump and she gave the area between the bumps a fast push. She laughed out loud when the section popped out a few inches and a door was revealed. She shook her head in admiration of her crafty teacher. Someone as prepared as Mrs. Moore wouldn’t have left her valuable supplies lying around for anyone to find.