by Connor Mccoy
“That is amazing you thought of that,” Sheryl said with a laugh. “Like I said, you think of everything.”
“I can’t take the credit. A guy on a survival discussion board thought it up,” Jacob replied.
“Okay. So, it sounds like breaking in at night is a no-go,” Sheryl said. “But aren’t they going to see you if you try going in during the day? At least at night they’re tired, they’re sleeping, they’re not going to be aware of what’s going on.”
“That’s a good point. If they see us coming, they might flee inside and barricade themselves. Then it’s going to be hell to get them out of there.” Jacob snapped his fingers. “But maybe we can mix the two.”
“Day and night?” Sheryl asked.
Jacob nodded. “Sort of. We sneak into the house during the very early morning hours, but we wait until they get up and start working the farm. The way Doms and I do it is to wake us all up early and begin work early. That’s the way a lot of family farms operate, and it wouldn’t be a shock if this group worked that way, too.”
“And when they go outside, we spring out and take the inside,” Domino said.
“Exactly. What we’ll do is pick them off one by one. My guess is we just have to worry about Terri and Guy, maybe Arnie. If Courtney isn’t armed, she won’t be an issue. We probably can talk to her. I get the feeling she’s maybe just as much a victim of Sykes’s game as we are. She might be fine with us freeing her from those two.”
“Are you sure?” Brandon asked. “I mean, she might be dangerous. I think I should take care of her, just to be safe.”
Jubilee shook her head. “Dad, leave him behind. He’s going to get himself captured on purpose.”
“I am not!” Brandon protested.
“Neither of you two are going,” Domino cut in. “This is very dangerous and the last thing we want is to have you in the middle of a gunfight. Aunt Sheryl will be watching you.”
“Mom, we know how to handle ourselves,” Jubilee said.
“Sweetie, you and your brother never should have to use a weapon unless you absolutely have to. If we can keep you out of danger, then that’s where you’re going to stay,” Domino said. Neither Brandon nor Jubilee challenged her further.
Returning her attention to Jacob, Domino said, “So, we take them down early tomorrow morning.” She blew a hot huff into the night sky. “I can only picture what they’re doing inside our house.”
Guy Wickers set the plate of smoking chicken on the dining table. “Give myself some points for not burning the heck out of this one.” He chuckled, but no one at the table laughed, not even Terri Boss, who just rolled her eyes. Courtney just put her head in her hands while Arnie walked his fingers across the table in front of him as if his digits were a pair of legs.
“I should consider myself damn lucky that I learned how to make a cooking fire without electricity or gas,” he said.
No one responded. Wickers gazed at the plates of corn and potatoes that each of them had. Only the chicken had to be served. “Well, let’s eat up. Tomorrow’s a busy day.”
Arnie looked at the chicken with a puzzled expression. “Is there a problem?” Boss asked, not sounding very warm in her concern.
Courtney sighed. “How about cutting out some chicken for him?” She asked it as if Boss ought to have known what to do. “You think a second grader could cut his own meat?”
Boss sighed. “Right.” She started peeling off some of the layers. “Damn that Sykes! What the hell was he thinking?” Aiming a glare at Wickers, she asked, “I thought you said he was reliable? He was going to take care of us. Look at who…” She twirled her knife at Courtney, but quickly clamed up.
“No, go on. Say it. He left you garbage,” Courtney said.
Boss shook her head. “No. It’s just…forget it.”
Wickers stood up and walked over to Arnie to take his plate. Arnie let out a loud grunt, but Wickers said, “Easy. I’m bringing it back.”
He slid it to Boss so she could deposit the cut meat onto it. He said to Boss, “I didn’t have any choice. We lost everything. It was either hook up with Sykes or starve in a ditch somewhere, or maybe worse. He may be dicking around with us but at least we have a roof over our heads and a big supply of food and water.”
With the food cut up, Wickers started sliding the plate to Arnie, but Courtney interjected. “He’s going to choke on it! You should cut it into little bits.”
“Sweetie, do you want to be the mom?” Boss asked.
“Hey, you want your strong hand to die on the first night, be my guest.” Courtney threw up her hands.
Boss got out of her chair as if ready to give Courtney a piece of her mind, but Wickers intervened by saying, “It’s fine.” He snatched the knife away and sliced the meat into smaller pieces. As he cut, he added, “I know it’s a little rough now, but we’ll make this work. Terri knows how to can food and I have some idea how to farm. We can teach you two what to do. It’ll be a snap.” Wickers put on a smile.
No one else except Arnie smiled back.
Boss pushed open the door. “This room belonged to their daughter, Jubilee.” She stood aside to permit Courtney inside. “She was fifteen, so maybe your age?”
Courtney scowled. “I’m twelve!” She marched up to the bed and plopped her rear onto it.
Boss shrugged. “Well, close enough.”
“It’s not close at all. She’s in junior high. I’m still in sixth grade.” Courtney parted her hands. “We’re worlds apart, trust me.”
Boss chewed the inside of her mouth. “Be that as it may, this is your room now. I’m sure you’ll find lots of clothes and things to make your own.”
Courtney jumped off the bed and marched to the dresser. She yanked open drawer after drawer and rifled through the clothes. “Size…size…” she muttered as she pulled them out. “These pants are too small! Is this girl anorexic or something?”
Boss bristled.
Courtney turned from the dresser to the open closet. She reached in and pulled out a pair of boxing gloves. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Tossing them aside, she yanked free some sparring headgear. “This girl’s some kind of what, an MMA fighter?” With a screech, she tossed the gear over her shoulder. “This is the room I’m going to get?”
Boss fought in vain to contain herself. “Well, this is all you’re going to get unless you want to sleep out in the mud with the pigs! You should consider yourself lucky that you have any place to live at all. So, do yourself a favor and park your little ass in here.”
“I don’t have a little ass!” Courtney suddenly leaped at Boss, who retreated out the door to avoid her. “So, thanks for nothing!” She grabbed the door and slammed it shut.
Cringing, Courtney turned toward the mirror. The lit candles provided enough light for her to see her reflection in the mirror.
You’re growing up, said Lily, the only caretaker who was ever nice to her. You don’t have to worry about your body. Ladies come in all shapes and sizes. What matters is what’s inside.
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, th
e 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.
