A Lucky Find

by Sage du Toit

  They cleaned up from breakfast and a few of the women wanted to heat water and wash up before going to Centreville. Sam didn’t blame them; they hadn’t had much of a chance to wash while under control of the men. They were mostly kept chained to the bed and given a bucket to use as a toilet and occasionally a bucket of cold water to clean with. The water was still running in the house and Tom check it with his testing kit. He said it was still clean but he didn’t advise drinking it without sterilizing it first, but it would be fine for bathing. A few of the women decided to take cold showers. There were plenty of bathrooms and lots of soap and shampoo for everyone. The sisters helped each other wash their hair with the warm water and they also bathed all of the kids. They didn’t have changes of clothes for the kids, but they made do with what they could find.

  Sherry showed Tom and Sam around the house while the sisters bathed the kids and themselves. She led them into the master bedroom, which is where she was being held captive. She showed them that inside of the closet there was a hidden panel that slid open to reveal a set of stairs that went down into the ground. She said that the prison men never discovered it. She told them that she dreamed many times of escaping and taking Bonnie back down into the shelter that was underground, but there weren’t any supplies left down there so it wouldn’t have done them any good, but there was an escape hatch at the far end of the shelter. She showed them the sores on her wrists from where Will had kept her locked up with handcuffs because anytime he let her lose, she had tried to escape.

  She showed them the shelter and how it was completely contained and even had a generator that ran everything, including the air filter system. She explained that they had run out of fuel, which is what made them leave the shelter when they did. She added that they were also feeling very trapped after being in the small space for so long and she didn’t relish the idea of going back in there for any length of time. Tom still suggested that they restock it and refill the tank for the generator. They could at least use it to take hot showers and use it for a shelter in case of storms. Of course, the shelter wasn’t big enough to house all of the women and children for an extended period, but for a short time it would be ok.

  Sherry shut the doors to the shelter and they all went back up. As Sherry was shutting the panel to the hidden shelter, she told them she had been thinking about the Centreville group and she was hoping they could join them. She said she didn’t see how they could prosper here.

  When they went back out to the great room, all of the women were sitting around waiting. They brought out the two men from the room where they had been secured. They removed all of the locks and chains from the two men and Sam asked the women to pack up two bags with supplies for them. After they were done in Centreville, they were going to drop the two men off at the edge of town and let them go. Sam took out her map and asked Craig to show her where the Centreville group was located. Craig looked closely at the map and followed a few streets and pointed to a street that was near the center of town. He told them the group was set up in an old Historical home and there were about twenty people there. He described the house and area and added that they were nice people but the prisoners had bullied them in the past and threatened them with guns several times. He said since then they had armed themselves and didn’t let any of them inside the fence, only traded items at the gate.

  Sam hoped the Centreville group would thank them for removing the gang of prisoners and not turn them away. Centreville appeared to be a small town and it sounded like the group in town had banded together to support and regrow together. She was hoping the group of women would be accepted and could add skills that the group needed. Of course, they were women and children and seeing how few people were left in the world, they should be easily welcomed if the group wanted to prosper.

  Sam reminded herself to think positive and then they started making final plans for how to get there. There were seventeen of them all together. All of the women wanted to come and they wanted to bring the children. From what Craig told them of the Centreville group, they were peaceful and they shouldn’t have any problems. He also told them that they hadn’t met up with any other groups or gangs in this area. He said the group in Centreville had also been working to clean up the dead bodies in town which reminded Sam that they had a stack of dead bodies to take care of as well.

  They decided they would talk to Centreville first, they might be able to help them with disposal if they were already cleaning up the town. Sam told them about the portable cremators they had used at Fort Jackson which lead to other questions about Fort Jackson and it delayed there leaving even further.

  Tom had retrieved the truck they had hidden in the garage back off the main road, so now they had three trucks. The two trucks that were already here had double cabs so they all loaded in with kids riding in their mom’s laps and they split the men up with Craig riding in the truck with Sam and Tom and Clyde was in the truck with Sherry and Bonnie.

  Tom and Sam were armed with their normal guns and Sherry and Bonnie had guns as well. The other women had decided they didn’t need guns, as they weren’t as comfortable with them, especially with the children. Sam had talked with Sherry and Bonnie more than the other women so she knew more about them. The two women had met on the Rifle Shooting team at College, which explained how they were so familiar with guns.

  Bonnie was quiet but when she started talking about Rifle Shooting, she started coming out of her shell a little and Sam was happy to see that. They loaded the back of the trucks with lots of supplies and things they could trade if it came to that. Sam also loaded Lucky and the kittens in the truck with them, she wasn’t going to take a chance and leave them behind where something could happen to them.

  Bonnie suggested the two men should be handcuffed to the door handles, because she said she didn’t feel safe with them lose. There were several murmurs of agreement from the other women, so just before they left, they handcuffed each of them to the roof handle above the passenger doors. Sam thought it would also demonstrate to Centreville that these men were not their friends, she didn’t want to be equated with the group of men from the prison. It was almost noon by the time they were ready to go.

  Chapter 20

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  The Historical house was just a few miles away. The prison men had previously pushed the cars that were on the road out of the way, so the way there was already cleared. They drove in a single line with Sam and Tom’s truck in the front. When they pulled up in front of the big white colonial house, Sam was impressed, the place was being well taken care of. She could see there were quite a few people moving around inside of the black wrought iron fence. There was a double gate across the drive and it was secured with chains and padlocks. A few people inside the fence were pointing to their trucks as Sam and Tom were getting out. They had instructed the rest of the women to stay in the trucks until someone signaled them to get out. They didn’t want the Centreville group to think they were being invaded.

  Sam walked up to the fence and waited for someone to come up to talk to her. Meanwhile, Tom was getting Craig out of the truck and reapplying the handcuffs to bring him up to the gate. Sam was torn between watching Tom to make sure Craig didn’t do something stupid and watching the group of people that was coming up to the gate from the inside. She hadn’t looked back at the other two trucks so she was surprised when Sherry suddenly came running up from the back truck toward the closed gate.

  “Brittany! You’re alive! I didn’t think I would ever see you again!” Sherry was calling out in excitement. A young woman from the group of people came rushing toward the gate and her and Sherry were trying to hug through the bars. An older man came forward and removed the locks and opened the gates and the two women were finally able to hug. Sherry turned to the older man, “Mr. Banks! I’m so happy to see all of you!” She hugged the older man and he returned her hug with a broad smile on his face.

  Sam and Tom stood ba
ck and smiled as Sherry continued to greet people that she knew, she was giving hugs and kisses all around. They should have considered that Sherry might know some of the people here since she did grow up here. More people were coming up from the Historical house and Sam started counting heads. Craig had told them there were about twenty people here and Sam had already passed twenty in the count. She counted thirty, including a few children that were in the group. Most of the group was hanging back and waiting to see what was going to happen.

  Sherry broke away from the group of people and motioned toward the trucks, indicating that it was safe for the women and children to unload. As they all made their way toward the gate another person could be heard calling out above everyone else, this time it was a male voice, “Meagan? Meagan?! Caleb!! Oh my God! Honey you’re alive!” A tall light-haired man was pushing his way through the crowd of people that had formed at the gate to get to the group of women that were heading their way.

  Meagan was running forward with Caleb clutched tightly in here arms. Sam was assuming that the man must be her husband, she wondered what he was doing here in Centreville and why he was with this group. She watched as the family came together hugging and kissing. The man took Caleb from Meagan and the boy wrapped his tiny arms around the man’s neck as he hugged him and kissed him, his other arm was wrapped tightly around Meagan. It was a very touching family reunion and Sam knew that Meagan had thought she would never see her husband again, and here he was just a few miles from where she had been kept prisoner.

  Bonnie had brought Oscar up in handcuffs as well and they stood him next to Craig, back from the edge of the crowd. There were a few more greetings of people that knew each other and everyone was trying to ask questions at the same time. The older man that Sherry had called Mr. Banks, let out a loud whistle and called for quiet. Immediately everyone shut up.

  He turned to Sherry and asked her what was going on and why did we have two men locked up with handcuffs. Sherry explained how they were all taken captive by the escaped convicts and how they were held and abused. When she got to the part about Tom and Sam freeing them, Sam thought she overexaggerated their bravery, especially when she called them heroes. They were just helping and hoping to get their stolen items back.

  Mr. Banks said he recognized the men from the group of ruffians that would sometimes come to trade with them. He said they never suspected they were that much trouble and he apologized to Sherry for not looking into the group or finding out where they were staying. He said, “It’s no excuse, I’m so sorry all of you went through that. Of course, you are all welcome to join us here.”

  Sherry looked around at the group of woman and children that had come with her and they all nodded. They had discussed the possibility of joining the Centreville group before heading out and this is exactly what they wanted. Sam looked at Meagan and her husband and knew they would all settle in well.

  Mr. Banks continued, “Mitchell showed up about three weeks ago with a small group of people he gathered on his way here to look for his wife, but when she wasn’t at her parent’s farm, he thought she was dead. I see that she has found him instead! This is surely an auspicious day and I think we have even more stories to tell.” He suggested they move the trucks inside the gate and come around to the back of the house where they could all talk.

  Tom interrupted and explained that the two men were being exiled and said he wanted to take them out to the edge of town. Mitchell volunteered to go with Tom, saying he knew the perfect place to leave them. Tom retrieved the keys from Sherry to unlock Oscar’s handcuffs, as well as the keys to the truck she had been driving. He didn’t want to take the truck he had been driving, because the cats were still inside. They all quietly watched as the men loaded up and took off. Several of the women, including Sherry, were looking on with troubled expressions.

  Sam wrapped her arm around Sherry’s shoulders and assured her they were doing the right thing. The men would have a chance to survive on their own. They could go find another group or make a place for just the two of them. Sherry nodded and then shook her head like she was clearing it. She said she would help move the trucks and the rest of the group headed toward the back of the house while they moved the remaining two trucks inside the fence.

  When they were done, they walked around to the back side of the house. There were several buildings behind the main house, including a huge barn that had large double doors standing wide open, showing a view of several shelves with plants. The group had made a large vertical garden. Sam looked up and saw there were solar panels on the roof of the barn, which explained how they were getting electricity for the lights over the plants. She then noticed there were solar panels on almost all of the building’s roofs. On the other side of the yard she saw another building with the door open and there were chickens out in the side yard of the building, contained by an enclosed wire fence. The center of the yard had tables and chairs all lined up under the big trees, some of the tables still had plates and cups where people had left their lunch to come out to the front of the house to see what was going on.

  Mr. Banks invited them all to come and sit down and offered food and drink as well, but they had eaten before coming so most of them refused, but when they brought out plates of fresh sliced tomato, cucumber, broccoli and carrots, they all couldn’t help but want to sample the fresh vegetables. Even the children were excited to eat the vegetables.

  Just as everyone was sitting down, Tom and Mitchell returned and joined them. Mr. Banks seemed to take charge, he was an average looking man, short and stocky with short white hair and a peppery beard that was trimmed short. He had an air about him that made everyone listen to him and follow his directions, Sam could tell that he was used to giving orders and people following them. She thought he had an air of ex-military about him and she wondered what he had been before N-day. It wasn’t long until she found out.

  Mr. Banks was asking Tom where they had come from and what they had seen on the way here. Tom immediately started giving a report like he was being debriefed by a general and Sam couldn’t help but grin at him. He turned and glanced at Sam as he was talking and her grin threw him off and he stopped mid-sentence.

  Sam laughed and said, “Mr. Banks, can I ask you what your job was before N-day? From the way Tom is briefing you I would think you were a General or something!”

  Everyone laughed and Mr. Banks said, “Well you aren’t too far off. I’m a retired Army Colonel and I was elected as a Judge here in Centreville a few years ago. I guess I’m a de facto leader of sorts, but we have all worked together and come together as a family. I think they just look to me to do the talking because I have a tendency to be so vocal!” At this he laughed at himself and everyone agreed.

  Everyone got quiet and listened as Tom and Sam took turns telling about Fort Jackson and everything they had encountered in between here and there. Even the women and children hadn’t heard all of their tale so they also listened intently. A few people had questions and Mitchell especially was interested in the greenhouses they had set up at Fort Jackson and told Tom he wanted to talk to him more later about those and the solar panel system they had set up.

  Mitchell explained how he came to be with the Centreville group. He said that quite a few people had survived in the Birmingham area and not all of them were good people. He said there was a lot of looting, raping and murdering going on and one particular gang of thugs was really bad. He wasn’t surprised when he heard about the group from Birmingham that were caught and hung in the town they had gone through. He said that as soon as it was decided the nerve gas had cleared out enough for him to travel, he had taken off with two others from Birmingham that wanted to check on family in the countryside, and two more that just wanted out of the city. They left Birmingham during a dark moonless night, in order to avoid the thugs that had taken over. He said it took them longer then they had expected to get out of the city. Sound travels far with all of the concrete and metal for it to bounce off of, so the
y had to be extra careful to not draw attention to themselves.

  He said it was just past sunrise and they were on the outskirts of Birmingham, walking through a small neighborhood when he had heard a rooster crow. They had followed the sound and it led them to a large greenhouse in a back yard. When they opened the door, they found the greenhouse had a chicken coop inside and there were several chickens and roosters running around lose. In the back section of the greenhouse was a small room and there they found an old woman. Mitchell had pointed to a very wrinkled old lady that was sitting off to the side, close to the chicken pen. He said they tried talking to her but all she does is nod.

  Mitchell explained they decided to call her Grandma, since they didn’t know her name. He wasn’t sure how Grandma and the chickens survived, but Maya said the greenhouse was very well built for a backyard setup. Grandma had lived off the chickens and the plants growing in the greenhouse, how she knew not to go outside was unknown to them. The group knew that they couldn’t leave them there, live chickens would be invaluable and Grandma looked to be struggling to survive. So, they found a pet store and loaded the nine live chickens into three pet carriers and they took turns carrying them and helping the old lady to travel. They also had to add chicken feed to their gear, but they knew the chickens would be worth it. When they found the group in Centreville that already had a garden going, they knew the chickens would be a good addition and the group welcomed the six people and nine chickens with open arms.

  Mitchell said that once he knew his group from Birmingham was safe, he could go get his wife and son. He told how he went to his in-law’s farm and was heartbroken when he discovered the basement was empty. He said he was very confused on why they left because he saw there was still food in the basement. Mitchell was holding Meagan’s hand the whole time he talked and when he started describing how he went to look for them he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. There were tears in his eyes as he apologized for not getting there sooner and saving her from the convicts.