by Hunt, Jack
Shoved like a common piece of trash, they were thrust through the open gates into the midst of curious onlookers. Eyes widened as familiar faces of old friends saw him and gasped. These were people he hadn’t spoken to in years, folks who at one time had looked up to him, sought his advice, admired him even. His exit from Camp Olney many moons ago had been sudden. No word was given to the core group, at least he never heard what Jude told them. It was better that way. Turning his back on it all. Starting afresh. Had he returned sooner, he might have buckled under the request to reconsider. Leaving them all behind had been easier. A clean break.
It wasn’t Jude who squeezed through the crowd to meet him but his son Maddox, who was similar in age to Tyler. He’d seen him a few times in his young years when Jude tried to wiggle his way back into Dianna’s life. Looking at him now, he was the spitting image of his father when he was a youngster.
Maddox cocked his head. “What is it with you Fords? You just keep showing up without an invitation.” He smirked then said, “My father’s not here if that’s who you were spying on.”
“Actually, I was looking for my kids.”
“Kids? That’s new. I was under the impression Tyler wasn’t one of yours?”
“Where are they?”
He shrugged looking over the faces of those gathered. “Your guess is as good as mine. Tyler left here yesterday, hasn’t returned.” He walked over to him, looking Andy up and down and then diverting his attention to Ferris. “Strange thing though. Around the same time a friend of ours, someone close to me, went missing. Allie. You seen her?”
“Can’t say I have. Well we’ll leave you to it then,” Andy said turning to leave. They took two steps and were pushed back.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” Andy said lifting his hands. “We were just leaving.”
“Leaving?” Maddox asked with a smug grin. “Without seeing my father?” He pulled a face. “That’s kind of rude, don’t you think?”
“We’ll be back.”
Maddox waved his finger and tutted. “No, it’s probably best you stay. It will be getting dark soon. You never know what kind of trouble you might encounter out on those back roads.” There was a menacing manner to him. Like father like son, Andy thought. He glanced at Ferris.
“Fine. When will he be back?”
“Oh, I’m sure he won’t be long. I imagine he will be pleased to see you.” Maddox pointed a few fingers at some of the men blocking their way and gestured where he wanted them taken. As he walked away, he said, “Maybe you can explain why you were taking such a keen interest in our operations here.”
“I already explained that.”
“Yeah, right. Your kids.”
They were quickly strong-armed away into one of the earth-covered domes. There they were led into a barred room that had nothing more than two benches. Andy looked around. “I take back what I said. I never added a jail cell to the blueprint.”
He tried shaking the bars but they were solid. Built right into the reinforced concrete above and below. He looked across the way at someone curled up in a ball. “Hey. Buddy.”
The guy didn’t move.
“Great. I knew I should have stayed in Whitefish,” Ferris said sinking down onto a bench and putting his hands over his head. There were no windows to let light in and the one door they entered through was made of iron. No getting out that way, he thought.
“Hey. You want to let us out of here!” Andy bellowed but got no response.
“You’re wasting your breath. Who is this Jude, anyway?”
“An old friend.”
“Good, maybe when he shows up, we can leave.”
“I’m not sure it will go that way.”
“Why?”
Andy sucked air between his teeth and took a seat across from him. “Let’s just say we haven’t seen eye to eye in a long time. And I kept his son from him.”
“His son? Corey?”
“No, Tyler.”
“Perfect. Well then, that makes this really easy. I’ll just tell him I had nothing to do with this and got lost along the way. I’ll be out of here in no time.” Ferris popped up and strolled over to the bars and turned his head to see if he could see one of the guards. He glanced over at their silent neighbor.
“Nah. You’ve seen the place,” Andy said before chewing on the corner of his lip.
“Excuse me?”
“Prior to the collapse. Yeah. You could have come and gone from this place but now… I’m not sure he’s the kind of man that hands out get out of jail free cards without something in return.”
Ferris studied him without saying anything. He paced while Andy peered around at the setup. It was primitive but effective. He’d give him that. He and Jude had chewed over ideas of laws and punishment but hadn’t really fleshed it out. They were so focused on training, building and teaching that they never really got around to laying down the ground rules. But by the looks of it, he had now. The question was how did it work? Did the people determine the fate of the accused? Did punishment amount to time inside or did they have more severe punishments?
It didn’t take long to get his answers.
Forty minutes passed before they had company.
They heard a door clank open and Jude’s voice telling the guards to wait outside. Andy sat with his back to the bars as he listened to him approach.
“Why does it not surprise me to find you here?”
Andy got up from the hard bench and stretched out his limbs. “Wow, you really need to throw a few pillows in here. Maybe provide some hand sanitizer and a toilet.”
Jude smiled. “Tyler is not here. Corey hasn’t visited. Now I know you, Andy, better than anyone else. You wouldn’t have just let my men capture you unless of course you had some other motive. The question is, what?”
“I wanted to see the place.”
“After all this time?”
“Better late than never, right?”
He grinned and then looked over his shoulder at the guy curled up. He groaned a little and looked as if he was beginning to stir.
Andy gripped the bars and got closer. “How’s it work, Jude? Are you judge, jury and executioner or do you leave the dirty work for your men outside?”
He smiled. “You know me, Andy. I don’t shy from guilt.”
“No you don’t.”
Jude glanced at his watch. “I figure right about now Tyler will be speaking with Corey and we’ll be seeing them very soon.” He breathed in deeply. “In your wildest dreams, could you have ever imagined this situation?” Jude stared at him as if he was relishing the turn of events. He got really close to the bars and said, “Oh the things you put my boy through,” before turning and walking away. “You shouldn’t have come back, Andy.”
“When are we getting out of here?” Ferris asked. “I’m a police officer.”
“All in good time, officer. All in good time.” He glanced back looking at Andy.
“Jude, just let us go.”
“Like I said, Andy, you only get one free pass. And I believe you’ve used yours up. How sweet fate is.” He turned and exited.
Ferris banged the bars and cursed. “I swear, you Fords are magnets for bad luck! First the son, now the father. Shit!”
Andy was only partially listening to his drivel. He was focusing more of his attention on their neighbor. Separating them from the cellblocks on the far side of the dome was a narrow walkway. The stranger sat upright and looked over at them. His feet were red and blistered. He swung his legs off and ran a hand around the back of his neck. He had long, dirty sun-bleached hair that came down to his shoulders, a gray beard and the clothes he was wearing were torn. “Hey buddy. Buddy.”
The guy looked his way. He licked his dry cracked lips and looked around as if he’d lost his marbles.
“The name’s Andy Ford.”
“I know who you are,” he replied in a familiar voice.
“You do?”
“How could I forget? I helped
you build this place.”
Andy frowned, the years clouding his memory. He squinted trying to recall where he’d seen his face. There were numerous people who had a hand in the development and engineering. “Edison?”
He raised a weary hand. “Here and counted for.”
“What the hell are you doing in here?”
“Flapped my lips one too many times.”
“But you were a part of the original group.”
“That’s right. Things have changed a lot around here since you left. Which by the way, while you’re here, why did you leave?”
Andy looked off towards the main entrance. “It’s a long story.”
“Jude said you had a nervous breakdown.”
“Is that so?”
“Guessing he was off base. Never believed it myself.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Though I saw your boy around here. He’s grown.”
Andy dipped his chin. “Yeah, yeah he has.” He didn’t want to say Tyler wasn’t his own flesh and blood. For so long it didn’t affect him. Now he felt as if he’d lost a piece of him, a piece of Dianna.
“Did you construct this addition?” Andy asked.
He chuckled. “Ah that’s right, this wasn’t here when you were around. No. I didn’t have a hand in it. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I’m in here. Jude and I don’t see eye to eye on any manner of things. This is one.”
Ferris got on the ground and began doing some pushups. Both of them looked at him.
“Your friend a little high strung?” Edison asked.
Andy laughed. “You could say that.”
Ferris scowled at them both.
“How long you been in here?”
“A few days.”
“For what?”
He got up and walked over to the bars. He let out an exasperated breath and lifted his eyes. “Trying to kill Jude.”
13
“Corey Ford, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Holden said, handing Corey a drink. “Last I heard, you were working for your old man. You not get down this way much?”
He shook his head. “Been busy. Sorry. How have you been?”
“You know, finding my way.” He glanced at the smashed window. It didn’t seem to bother him. Then again it paled in comparison to the damage throughout the city. “Now this shit storm has happened, it kind of feels like home again.”
He chuckled. “Civilian life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is it?”
Holden nodded and took a sip of his drink. Holden was a bald guy with tattoos covering his arms. He had a gnarly scar across his lower lip. Close to six foot, he was pure muscle. “The upside is I don’t have divorce lawyers breathing down my neck.”
Corey’s brow knit together. “But that was a long time ago.”
Holden took another sip of his drink. “I’m referring to wife number two.”
“Oh. Sorry. That sucks.”
Holden shrugged. “Ah, whatever. The writing was on the wall for years. She came home one day and told me she doesn’t want this anymore. I ask her why. She tells me she doesn’t know. You know, the usual bull crap. A month later she’s hooked up with some other guy. What a waste of time. Fourteen years of marriage down the drain. Took me a while to get the money from the house. I moved into this place and this has been home for a while.” He cast his eyes over them. “But things are looking up. At least they were.”
“Why did you stick around?”
“Probably the same reason as you. It isn’t much better out there I hear. Besides, where would I go? Can you see me thumbing rides down Route 66?”
Corey got up and went into the kitchen and began rooting through his cupboards. “You’re running low.”
“Yeah, though I have a few things stashed below.”
“But not enough to last you for the next year.”
He took a bite of an apple. “Maybe not.”
“What if there was a way to get your hands on a cache of supplies, enough to cover you for the next year or two? Ammo, and medicine as well.”
“I’m listening.”
Corey returned and sat in a seat across from him. He leaned forward. “The raiders. The ones that have been causing most of the damage in the towns and cities. We’ve come across where they’re storing it all.”
“You got a small army?” Holden asked. “As I heard there’s a lot of them.”
“No need.” Corey glanced at Allie. “We have intel that they won’t be around. That only a small number of them will be watching over the stash.”
Holden blew out his cheeks. “I don’t know.”
“We could use your skills.”
“It’s been a while. Look, I have a kid now.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, after Katy left, she informed me she was pregnant. I figured it was with the guy she was with but nope. Anyway, I got myself a healthy seven-pound boy. Katy is still in town. Lives on the west side in some upscale neighborhood. Whatever. But, I…” he trailed off looking up at a photo of him and Katy on the mantel. It was strange that he still had it there. Corey would have tossed it. Holden didn’t need to explain, Corey understood. Despite the power grid being down, life continued on. Responsibilities didn’t just fall by the wayside, at least those related to flesh and blood.
“She can’t be taking this well.”
“No, but a hell of a lot better than me,” he replied taking out a cigar from his mouth and relighting it. Gray smoke spiraled up and a cloud filled the air. His face disappeared behind it. “The thing is since this shit storm has happened, she’s been in touch with me more often. I think she is having second thoughts.”
“That, or she just knows you have the skill set to survive this shit,” Bennington said. He laughed. “Women are all the same. You are the best thing since sliced bread when you are meeting their needs. The moment you become uninteresting, exciting or unable to provide, they want to upgrade.”
Holden shrugged. Corey nodded but tried harder to get him on board. “You are looking at one or two nights. That’s it, man. We move in, and out. The whole thing can be wrapped up and you can return with enough to last you through to next year. Hell, it might even win her over.”
“Corey,” Bennington said. “Stop raising his hopes.”
“I’m just saying. Allie here is confident that it can go off without a hitch. Isn’t that right?” He looked at Allie for support. She nodded. “It’s just a matter of deciding Holden. Are you in or out?”
He looked at Allie and shifted his cigar from one side to the other. “Look, I don’t know her.”
“She’s a friend of my brother.”
Holden looked at Tyler.
“Is this true?”
Tyler gestured to Allie and she pulled out the notebook. He handed it over and Holden thumbed through it. He was very analytical. A person who went by the book. He’d been known to pull out of a situation if he got even the slightest inkling that it could go south. Corey didn’t expect him to buy it on the scribblings in a notebook.
“And how did you two meet?” He asked.
“Long story.”
“High risk,” Holden said as he read the notes. “Give me the abbreviated version.”
Tyler looked at Corey then filled in the details. Covering how he ended up at Jude’s camp, his run-in with Allie and what she’d told him about her sister.
“And you saw her sister?”
“Well, no but…”
“Then why do you believe her? For all we know this could be a trap.”
“A trap?” Tyler muttered looking confused.
“You said this Jude doesn’t like your old man. That he’s been looking for a way to get back at him. Seems to me this would be a good way. Hurt the sons, hurt the father.”
“But I’m not his son. I’m Jude’s.”
“And yet you haven’t been in his life,” Holden said rising to his feet. “Nah. This plan stinks to high heaven. You want me to risk my neck over a stranger
’s scribblings?” He snorted and tossed the notebook back to Allie. “And let’s face it. Did you see the supplies? Did you see this bullet reloading machine? How the hell do you know these are the raiders? Everyone and his uncle have been looting stores, breaking into homes and holding people up on the streets.”
Holden puttered around in the kitchen.
“Because I used to be one of them,” Allie said, turning and pulling at her jacket to reveal a branding of a star. That caught all of their attention. Even Tyler looked shocked.
“Sorry. I was going to tell you, but I…” she trailed off and Tyler placed a hand on her leg.
“Get a room,” Bennington said rising to his feet. “Look, Holden. It comes down to this man. Are you going to do it or not? Are you in or out?”
“I need time to think about it.”
“There isn’t any time. We have a small window of opportunity.”
“Let me just say. I don’t like this. Something about it feels off.” He looked at Allie. “Working with a supposed ex-raider against raiders?”
“I’m not a raider.”
“But you were,” Holden said sticking his cigar back in his lips. He breathed in deeply and cast a stern glance at Allie. “Is Markowitz in?”
“We still have to see him,” Corey said.
“Okay. If he is, I am.”
“As simple as that?”
He nodded. Corey got up and grabbed Holden’s hand and pulled him in. He patted his back and they waited for him to grab a few things together. There was a renewed sense of strength and hope among them. People could fish and hunt and that would remain one of the main sources of food but if raiders were going to sweep in and scoop it out from underneath their noses, it would jeopardize their survival.
While Holden gathered what he needed, Tyler gestured for Allie to step out onto the fire escape. He led her down to the ground because he didn’t want the others hearing. He sure as hell wasn’t going to lead his brother and his closest friends into a trap if that’s what it was. He needed information and as this was new, he had to assume she was holding back even more.