by Eric Vall
“Jesus,” I said, and I turned my head, but I couldn’t look away.
“It’s like a car crash,” Tara whispered. “It’s so bad you just can’t stop staring.”
Tara flipped a few more pages until we got to one that showed a live home birth of a baby with severe deformities and a screaming mother while Ma stood over the two and smiled.
“Alright,” I said, and I flipped the book closed. “I think we’ve seen enough.”
“I think I got hypnotized,” Bailey said, and she shook her head.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “It sucked me in.”
“Let’s start going through stuff,” I said.
“Okay,” Anna sighed. “But we should bring this thing home with us.”
“No way!” Tara protested. “It’s probably haunted or something.”
“Just because it’s creepy doesn’t mean it’s haunted,” Paige chuckled.
“It doesn’t mean it’s not,” the platinum blonde retorted.
“You got me there,” Paige said with a nod.
“Fine,” Anna laughed. “We won’t take it with us.”
“We should burn it,” Tara said, and she shivered. “That thing is fucked up.”
“We’ll worry about that later,” I chuckled. “Let’s get to work.”
“Right,” Anna said. “Let’s start with the generators.”
“They’re gonna be heavy,” I said. “It might take all of us to get them up into the truck.”
“There’s gotta be some wood around here,” Paige said. “We could make a ramp of sorts.”
“Good idea,” I said and I headed outside.
We maneuvered the generators and managed to get them into the truck, but it took at least an hour, and we were all sweaty and hot by the time we were done.
“Everybody take a water break,” I breathed.
“Thank God,” Tara gasped. “I’m so tired.”
“That was harder than I thought,” Bailey said between ragged breaths.
“That’s what she said,” Tara gasped, and she tried to laugh, but it came out as just air.
After some water and a few minutes of rest, we were all good as new and ready to continue looking for supplies.
“Over here,” Paige called from behind the house.
“What did you find?” I asked as I made my way over to her.
“They have solar panels back here,” the brunette said.
“Is that what was hooked up to the generators?” Tara asked.
“I think so.” Paige nodded.
“Aren’t there solar panels like that at the ski house?” Anna asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “These are a good start, but the ones from the ski house would definitely help.”
“So we’re taking these too, right?” Paige asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Let’s load them up, but be careful not to break them.”
“Right,” Bailey said, and she grabbed one end of a panel while Paige grabbed the other end.
We loaded the panels easily, and I decided to head inside and see what I could find, but somehow the smell of the place got more disgusting each time I went in, so I lifted my shirt over my nose and looked around.
I found several kerosene lamps in the house, some old raw meat, and a lot of filthy clothes, so I took the lamps out to the truck and left everything else.
“Hey!” Bailey called out to me, and I walked over to the small shed she stood by. “We found candle making supplies.”
“Really?” I asked, and I looked into the shed.
“Yeah,” Paige said from inside. “These hillbillies had more going for them than I would have thought.”
“I guess when you’ve been living like this long enough you need to figure out a way to survive,” I said.
“Did you find anything in the house?” Bailey asked.
“Just some kerosene lamps,” I said. “I put them in the truck.”
“Hey guys,” Tara called out, but I didn’t see her anywhere.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m in some weird tunnel under the guard post,” she yelled, and my eyebrows pinched together as I walked toward the guard tower.
Sure enough, underneath the tower was a bunker door, and it was open. Tara appeared underneath it and waved us down, so I climbed down the small rope ladder and took a look around the underground bunker. The walls were lined with shelves, there were still canned goods on them, but I could tell they had been running low.
“Good find,” I told the platinum blonde.
“Yeah,” Tara said, and she walked over to a desk at the other end of the bunker. “But check this out.”
“What is it?” Anna asked, and we all peered at the desk.
“That’s a soldering iron,” Paige said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, and my eyes narrowed as I looked over the desk. “This must be how they got the generators working.”
“What do you mean?” Bailey asked.
“This is used for repairing electronics,” Paige said, and she picked up the small silver tool.
“Right,” I said. “They must have put in new components.”
“That works?” Tara asked with wide eyes.
“Apparently.” I nodded. “The EMP fried the connections in the electronics, so if they were able to repair those connections it’s reasonable to think that they would work again.”
“Oh my God,” Tara said. “Does that mean we could have a TV again?”
“I’m not sure,” I chuckled. “The more complex the circuitry the harder it will be to fix, but we’ll see.”
“Did you see a TV in the house?” Anna asked.
“Not that I recall,” I said. “But you can check again. First, though, let’s load up the stuff from down here.”
“Hey, what’s that?” Bailey asked, and she pointed to a small machine on the floor beside the desk.
“It’s an emergency radio,” I said, and I picked up the small red box.
“Does it work?” Paige asked.
“It’s a hand crank one,” I said. “They’re used for hurricanes, so my bet is yes.”
“Holy shit,” Anna breathed. “That means we could contact other people, right?”
“Possibly,” I said. “But it’s more used for hearing transmissions.”
“Well let’s see if we can hear anything,” Paige said excitedly.
“We’ll figure that out when we get home,” I said. “First let’s pack up this place.”
“Alright,” Anna said.
The girls and I loaded up the supplies from the bunker, along with the candle making supplies in the shed, and we found another shed that was filled with some older Romanian built AKs and ammunition, so we loaded that up as well. By the time we were done the truck was full, and it was midafternoon.
“We should head back,” I said.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “I think we’ve gone through everything we can.”
“We have generators and solar panels,” Bailey said. “That’s a great score as is.”
“And the rest of their food,” Anna said with a wry smile.
“Plus we have that smoldering stuff,” Tara said. “Maybe we can fix the TV.”
“It’s soldering, not smoldering,” Paige laughed.
“Well, whatever it is,” Tara said with a shrug. “It might get TV back.”
“At the very least DVDs,” Anna said.
“We did well today,” I said. “Now let’s get this stuff home.”
“Should we clean up the bodies?” Bailey asked. “I mean, we’ve just kind of been stepping over them all day.”
“Let’s leave them,” I said. “If anybody else lives around here it will serve as a warning.”
“Do you really think there might be more people up here?” the blonde asked, and she bit her lip.
“It’s possible,” I said with a nod. “We need to be careful.”
“Alright,” Anna said. “Let’s get home to Rolly.”
“Ugh,” Tara
groaned. “Back to the creepy road. I was enjoying the sunshine.”
“Yeah,” Paige chuckled. “It is really cold on the road from the shade.”
“Sorry,” I laughed. “We’ll have to go even slower on the way back.”
“Figures,” Tara muttered, and she hopped in the truck.
I started the truck and took off slowly down the road once more so I didn’t disturb the cargo in the back. If we broke one of those solar panels, it would be basically unusable.
The girls were right, the road was cold from the shadows, and it was even colder now that it was afternoon.
As we drove, I thought about the road to the left and who could live up there. That family album creeped me out, and I thought maybe some of those kids had grown up and moved to their own piece of property, but with how crazy the family was, I couldn’t be sure that would have been an option for them.
“What are you thinking about?” Bailey asked as we drove.
“Who else might be hiding in these woods,” I said with a hard voice.
“Just the thought of more of those people makes me feel sick,” Tara said with a grimace.
“It’s not a pretty sight,” I chuckled.
“No,” Paige said with a shake of her head. “It is not.”
“And that photo album,” Anna said excitedly. “It was gold.”
“What the fuck?” Tara asked.
“What?” Anna said. “Creepy shit is my jam.”
“It isn’t too often you see something like that in real life,” Paige said. “It was like something from an M. Night Shyamalan movie.”
“Psh,” Anna scoffed. “Shyamalan is a hack. Craven is a million times better.”
“Nobody else knows enough about horror movies to debate with you,” Tara said dryly.
“Fair enough,” Anna chuckled. “If we can get the TV working, I’ll show you guys what I’m talking about.”
“You brought horror movies to school?” Paige asked.
“Well, yeah,” Anna laughed. “What else was I supposed to do at night?”
“Sleep?” Paige chuckled.
“Sleep is for the weak,” Anna said, and we all laughed.
“So do I get to go to the cabin this time?” Paige asked happily. “We have to get the solar panels, right?”
“We do,” I said. “Neither you nor Bailey have been yet.”
“Does that mean I can go too?” Bailey asked with a grin.
“I think that’s only fair,” I said. “After we take the panels, the hot tub probably won’t work anymore.”
“Then we’re definitely going,” Paige said, and she grinned at Bailey. “It will be nice to have our own mission together.”
“Yeah,” the blonde agreed, and she smiled at her friend.
We had finally reached the main road, and I turned out onto the highway that led past the farm houses and to the school.
“Thank God,” Tara groaned. “I missed the sunshine.”
“Me too,” Bailey said. “I was getting cold.”
“We should’ve huddled for warmth,” Tara said, and she winked at the blonde.
“Haven’t you two done enough huddling?” Anna asked with a wry smile.
“No way,” Tara scoffed. “Tav is good with two of us at a time.”
“I think I’ll stick to my solo turns,” Anna laughed.
“Suit yourself.” Tara shrugged. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“I’m here to please however I can,” I said.
We made the drive back to the campus and stopped at the barn to feed the cows before heading up the drive and parking the truck.
“Hey!” Betty called from the roof.
“Hey, Betty,” I said, and I waved at the old woman.
“Where’s Rolly?” Anna asked.
“He was checking the smoker,” Betty said. “Do you all need some help?”
“I think we got it,” I said, and I started to unpack the supplies we had retrieved.
After everything was offloaded, the girls and I headed to the roof and found Rolly, Winchester, and Betty.
“Looked like you got a good haul,” Betty said.
“We did.” I grinned.
“It’s almost dinner time,” Tara said as she looked at the dwindling evening sun. “Betty, can you stay for dinner?”
“I don’t see why not,” Betty said,.
“Good.” Tara smiled. “I’ll cook.”
“Would you like some help?” Betty asked.
“No,” Tara said with a shake of her head. “You and Rolly can go relax for a while, we’ll call you when dinner is ready.”
“Thanks,” Rolly said, and he led his lady downstairs.
“That was nice of you,” I told Tara.
“Rolly works hard,” the platinum blonde said. “Betty too, they deserve a little break.”
“So what are you cooking?” I asked.
“Turkey pot pie,” Tara said. “But I require cooking wine.”
“By cooking wine do you mean wine you use to cook?” Bailey asked.
“Or do you mean wine that you drink while you cook?” Anna asked with a raised brow.
“The second one,” Tara said.
“Alright,” Paige chuckled. “I’ll get the wine. Is there anything else you need?”
“I’ll come with,” Tara said, and the two headed to get supplies for dinner.
“We got some good stuff today,” Bailey said, and she came over and sat on my lap.
“Hey,” I said, and I wrapped my arms around the small blonde. “I’m glad you came over here.”
“I just wanted some extra attention,” she said.
“You’re always welcome to that,” I said, and I leaned back with Bailey snuggled against me.
“So do you know how to use that soldering iron?” Anna asked.
“A little,” I said, and my eyebrows pinched together. “I’m just not sure what electrical parts to replace.”
“I bet Paige can figure it out,” Bailey said.
“Or Rolly,” Anna said. “He’s pretty handy with stuff like that too.”
“We’ll ask them at dinner,” I said.
“Okay.” The redhead smiled. “I think we forgot to eat lunch today, I’m so hungry.”
“I think you’re right,” I said. “I’m pretty hungry.”
“I’m excited about that candle making stuff,” Bailey said, and she smiled up at me.
“It will be nice to have more candles around,” Anna said.
“I bet we could put herbs and flowers in them so they smell good,” Bailey said excitedly.
“Good idea,” I told the blonde, and I pulled her closer to me.
“Hey!” I heard Tara call up, so I walked over to the edge with the rest of the girls.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I think dinner will be better if I cook it on the fire,” she said. “You guys can stay up there though.”
“You guys go,” Anna said. “I’ll take watch duty.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’d like some alone time.”
“Do you want a glass of wine?” Bailey asked.
“Not right now,” the redhead said, and she smiled at her friend. “Go and have fun, I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Okay,” I said, and I kissed Anna on the forehead. “We’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”
“Thanks,” she said, and she smiled back at me.
Bailey, Winchester, and I headed downstairs, but as we passed by the dorm rooms, we heard Rolly and Betty giggling, and Bailey’s face went red, and she hurried down the stairs.
“What’s wrong with you?” Paige asked as we took our seats by the fire pit.
“What do you mean?” Bailey asked.
“You look like you just saw a ghost,” the brunette laughed.
“They probably heard Rolly and Betty getting it on,” Tara said.
“Oh,” Paige said with a nod. “Yeah, we heard it too.”
“He’s not here,” Tara said, and she lit the fire with her lighter.
“Even so,” I laughed. “Let’s change the subject.”
“Fine,” Tara said, and she rolled her eyes, but grinned at me too.
“Do you need any help with dinner?” Bailey asked.
“Nah,” Tara said. “I think I got it. You can open that wine for us though.”
“Oh, okay,” Bailey said, and she picked up the bottle and looked at it, confused.
“The corker is right there,” Paige said, and she pointed to the ground.
“Right,” Bailey said, and she picked up the wine corker like she knew what she was doing, but it was obvious she did not.
She tried to twist the corker in the top, but she didn’t let the handles rise, and it was obvious she was struggling.
“Bailey,” I laughed and I tried to take the bottle.
“I got it,” the blonde protested.
“It really seems like you don’t,” Tara said with a raised eyebrow.
“Haven’t you opened wine for us before?” Paige asked.
“No,” Bailey admitted with a sigh. “Tara always does it. And even before all this there was always somebody else around to open wine at parties.”
“So you don’t know how to use the corker?” Paige asked.
“No,” Bailey said, and she was becoming flustered, and her face was growing red.
“It’s okay,” Paige chuckled. “It’s easy, let me show you.”
“Thanks,” Bailey said, and she tried to hand the bottle to Paige.
“You hang onto it,” Paige said. “Do what you were doing before but keep your hand off the little handles on the sides.”
“Like this?” Bailey asked, and she began to twist and the handles rose. “Whoa.”
“Yeah,” Paige laughed. “Just keep doing that, and once they’re up all the way just push them down.”
Bailey did as instructed, and the cork came out easily, so she grinned at Paige.
“Here,” Paige said, and she handed her a cup. “I think you earned the first pour.”
“Thanks for showing me,” Bailey said.
“I can’t believe you never opened wine before,” Tara said with wide eyes. “I’ve been opening bottles forever.”
“Yeah, but your family was fancy,” Paige said with an eye roll. “You probably got to drink wine at dinner growing up.”