“Ok.”
“What’s your name?”
“Megan. This is Britney.”
“Is she sick?”
“No, she didn’t get infected.”
“You’re positive?”
“Yes.”
The woman shouldered her gun, a move that sent relief welling up in Megan’s chest, and outstretched her arms.
“I’ll take the baby.”
Her name was Sarah. She and her husband had been making their way across the south for about a week, and joined up with some preppers they had an online group with. It had always been part of the plan to group together eventually, and when news of the blood pox began to spread online, they knew it was time. They had a camp in the north and were armed to the teeth.
“We didn’t do the stockpile thing much,” Sarah explained. “It’s not safe to stay in one place, so we just take what we can carry. This area’s been picked pretty clean, though.”
Megan tried to seem interested - she didn’t want to get on her saviors’ bad side - but she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Thankfully, once they reached camp, sleep was exactly what Sarah recommended.
“We got plenty of tents. Since you got to be isolated, we’ll get it up a little ways over here. You know how to dig a hole for your bathroom and start a fire? Anything like that?”
Megan shook her head. Blake had known how to do a lot of that stuff, but when he was home, he didn’t talk about it much. He wasn’t naturally into the whole wilderness survival thing. Sarah’s husband Kirk offered to help her.
“It’s real easy,” he assured her. “You seem like a fast learner.”
Kirk was less eager to “show” Megan and more interested in just digging the hole and getting a fire going for her. Megan sat in her tent by herself, looking at the fire, and feeling hollow without Britney with her. Kirk had dug some kind of deep fire hole, with a second smaller hole for “ventilation,” he had said.
“Keeps the fire real hot,” he explained briskly, his hands flying. “And then you just cover it back up with the soil when we move on.”
Megan would have asked him to slow down, but he seemed in a hurry and Megan wanted to make as little fuss as possible. She watched the group from a distance, their tents circled together like a rustic circus. She counted about thirteen of them - all adult men and women - aged from about 20’s to late 40’s. Everyone seemed confident about their tasks. There were lots of fires going with boiling pots of water. Megan wasn’t sure what time it was, but apparently it was time for a meal. Everyone wore a surgical mask, as well. Megan wondered if she should ask for one, but no one seemed to think it was necessary, so she kept quiet. She didn’t want to use any more of their supplies than absolutely necessary. She had food and water for Britney, and that was what mattered. Sarah had taken her bag, so Britney’s supplies were with her. Feeling more secure, at least for the moment, Megan lay down on the slick bottom of the tent and let herself fall asleep.
3.
She dreamed. Nothing was clear. There was only an assortment of images and memories of pain, like bee stings, burns, and muscle aches. Though she couldn’t see well, she knew she was lying in a bed, but the ground rose up above her. Without looking around, she knew Lily and Blake were beside her, their bodies crawling with spiders and maggots and ants. Megan tried to scream, to thrash around, but she was paralyzed. Straining to see upwards, she saw dirt being thrown down on her. She was being buried alive.
When Megan started awake, it was dark outside. Someone was in the tent entry, shining a light on her face.
“Are you ok?”
It was Sarah. Rattled, Megan sat up, shielding her eyes.
“You need to eat something, have some water, too.”
She offered Megan a bowl of something hot and a water bottle. Embarrassed, Megan thanked her.
“I’m sorry, I feel like I’m being so much trouble. I’ll get better, I’m strong.”
“Don’t worry,” Sarah assured her. “We’ve done this before. One of the others, June, we found her with a bullet through her foot. Took her a while to get over it, but she pulls her weight now.”
“I hope Britney is behaving herself.”
“She’s an angel.”
They were quiet for a few moments. Megan looked into the bowl. It was some kind of rice dish, plain, with a few beans. She began to eat and after a few bites, she felt better. Sarah gave her a quick nod.
“Good?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“So, what’s your story?” Sarah asked.
Megan thought about how to answer. Should she share everything? Sarah knew the most damning piece of information - that Megan had been infected - so there wasn’t really any reason to hide anything else. Megan told Sarah about Lily and how Blake’s family had abandoned them. The woman listened intently, only her eyes visible above her surgical mask. When Megan finished her story, Sarah sighed, shaking her head.
“Situations like this change people,” she remarked. “Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.”
Sarah waited till Megan had finished her meal and took her bowl away. She returned with a blanket, saying they were short on pillows, but were planning on making more supply runs.
“When you’re back to full strength, you can come with us to help,” Sarah said. “We’re not short on guns, so you’ll be safe.”
It took Megan three days to feel like herself again. Her scabs fell off and faded into scars. Sarah was an efficient and generous attendant, bringing Megan water, food, and telling her how Britney was doing. When she wasn’t sleeping, Megan watched the others. She was close enough to hear some of their louder conversations and picked up on a few names. Kirk and Sarah seemed to be the leaders of the pack. Bruce, a powerful-looking man who always carried a machete in his belt, seemed to be a bit of a loose cannon. He shouted a lot, angry about issues with rations or supply runs. Megan worried that some of that anger might be due to her presence, but he never directly mentioned her, and Sarah didn’t bring him up when she visited Megan. When Megan felt strong and Sarah decided it was ok for her to end the isolation, Megan was given a new tent and moved into the group’s circle. To her joy, Britney was returned to her, happy and well cared for.
Megan’s duties began immediately. They had to go on supply runs nearly every day. Megan noticed flaws in this system right away. First, there was barely anything left in the area and they had to start going out further and further from camp. Second, it was dangerous to be out and about so much. Sometimes they encountered other people - less than pleasant people - and had to threaten them with their weapons. Megan had been with Sarah and Kirk’s group for a week when the first person got shot. It was a man, gaunt-looking and desperate, who tried to jump Megan from behind. She heard a shout and turned in time to see Sarah shoot the attacker in the back, his arms raised to strike Megan. He froze for a second, shocked, before he collapsed forward at Megan’s feet. Megan looked at Sarah, her mouth open. Sarah lowered her gun.
“You ok?” she asked, voice like steel.
“Y, y...yes,” Megan stuttered.
“Ok. Let’s go.”
The shooting didn’t seem to affect Sarah at all. She didn’t offer to talk to Megan about it, instead focusing on their inventory that way and other business. They just left the body lying there, blood pooling around it. Megan wondered if Sarah had killed before. She was certainly more hardened than Megan had thought at first. Her kindness towards Megan shifted into firm civility the stronger Megan became. Sarah was driven by efficiency and survival, though her techniques didn’t seem to be especially stable. She craved control and order, but didn’t seem to have the knowledge or skills to obtain them. The group felt a little like a bomb waiting to go off.
Two weeks after Megan joined the group, they moved. Their group had gotten larger, as Sarah and Kirk accepted anyone who could give the group something, like batteries, food, water, or weapons. It seemed like a risky idea, but Megan kept her opinions herself and
her head down. The group still had some running vehicles so they all piled into their cars and trucks and drove out of town. They passed Astrid’s neighborhood on the way. Megan hugged Britney a little closer and kissed the top of the baby’s head.
Say goodbye to your uncle, she thought, fighting back tears.
Things got tenser when the weather started to get colder. The group was always on the move, always looking for supplies. Some people started stealing food and running off, forcing Sarah and Kirk to appoint guards within the group to keep an eye on everyone. Megan was chosen as the likelihood of her running off with a baby - completely helpless - was slim.
“If you catch anyone, shoot them,” Sarah instructed her, her eyes protruding slightly from her thinning face.
People were getting paranoid. Bruce started to carry his machete unsheathed, constantly swinging it around for no reason, eyes darting around. Megan stayed clear of him. Distrust within the group sharpened when winter came and finding good campgrounds became harder. By then, they had moved back up north, towards Missouri. Sarah and Kirk’s thinking was to try to get further away from the pox’s source, though whatever news they could catch on random radio stations said the pox had spread all through the country. Some people tried to argue with them, but Sarah shut them down.
“You want to lead this group?” she snapped. “Ration out the food and deal with everyone’s shit? Are you challenging me?”
No one said anything more. Megan still dreamed, or rather, she had nightmares. During the day, she could avoid thoughts about Lily or Blake, but at night, her mind wallowed in memories. Sometimes she would be searching for them and find their bodies, all rotten and lying in mud, or she would lose Britney and spend all night running through mazes, screaming for her. As tension within the group built up, the dreams worsened. She often woke with headaches or stomach pain. It became harder to find food. They started moving without camping, except to spend the night. Whenever they came across someone with any sort of supplies, even if it was just a single bug-out bag, Sarah would let them in to the group in exchange. By the end of November, they were in Missouri, eighteen-strong, and starving.
“There’s a village about two miles ahead,” Bruce said, returning from a supply run. “Nothing else. They’ve got it barricaded up, there’s a sign that says it’s infected.”
Sarah frowned, chewing the skin around her finger nail aggressively. Megan, who was standing beside her, winced when she saw Sarah break the skin. A drop of blood stained Sarah’s nail as she let her hand fall to her side.
“It could be a strategy,” she said. “To keep people away. We need to find out for sure.”
“How the hell are we going to do that?” Bruce demanded.
“We’ll send someone in,” Sarah said curtly. “Use them as bait.”
“What? Are you crazy?” a woman demanded.
“Are you volunteering?” Sarah asked, spinning around.
The woman bit her lip. Sarah frowned deeper, her forehead a cobweb of wrinkles. Kirk stood opposite Megan, gripping his gun. He tended to stay quiet while Sarah did the heavy-lifting. He was like her bodyguard: silent, but physically intimidating.
“It needs to be someone they won’t suspect. Someone who seems harmless,” Sarah said, thinking aloud. “Someone like you.”
She spoke this last sentence to Megan. Megan’s heart dropped into her stomach. She felt very aware of the guns around her.
“Yeah, with the baby? There’s no way they won’t let you in.”
Sarah became more cheerful, as if she had concocted a brilliant plan. Her forehead smoothed. Megan looked around at the others, hoping for some kind of objection. No one met her eye.
“They’ll know I’ve been taken care of!” Megan insisted. “That I’ve eaten recently. Won’t they think that’s weird? Or that I’m ok on my own?”
“Don’t eat,” Sarah said firmly. “You’ll get weak. It’ll look better if you’re dehydrated, too.”
“You can’t be serious,” Megan pressed.
“The baby, too,” Sarah continued, as if she hadn’t heard. “That’ll get to them.”
She’s lost her mind, Megan thought.
“Are you guys hearing this?”
Sarah had been leaning against the front of a truck, but when Megan spoke, she straightened and got right up in Megan’s face.
“Do you think we can keep living like this?” she spat. “You think I like traveling from place to place, always living on the edge, not knowing when we’ll find more food, clothes, anything? We have to take. We have to do anything we can to survive. Don’t you get that?”
“There are other ways,” Megan insisted, not lowering her eyes under Sarah’s stare.
“What? Walk right up and ask nicely? You’ve seen how people are. I had to kill someone. To save you. You owe me. You owe us. Or would you rather we just starve the baby?”
No one protested. Megan lowered her eyes.
“I’ll do it.”
“I thought so,” Sarah said smugly.
At dinner time, some looked sadly at Megan and Britney, but others refused to meet her gaze, as if ashamed. The extra food and water was distributed by a lottery and Megan had to watch from a distance as Bruce guzzled Britney’s baby formula. Megan remembered what Sarah had said to her when they first met, about people becoming either their best or their worst. These people had become the worst version of themselves.
Besides water, Britney and Megan were given very little. On the fourth day, Megan and Britney were walked out to the woods and sent ahead.
“Don’t try anything funny,” Bruce instructed her, slicing through the snow with his machete. “And stick to the plan.”
Megan watched him disappear through the trees. Britney began to whimper.
“I know,” Megan said, looking down into Britney’s face. “Don’t worry. It’ll be ok.”
She didn’t have to walk too far until she saw the village. If they were infected, Megan was supposed to get out as quickly as she could and return to the group. She didn’t know what would happen after that. Without a coat, Megan shuddered. There didn’t seem to be a gate, but maybe if she went around a different side...the sharp bark of a dog startled her. Britney began to cry.
“Hello?” a voice called. “Is someone there?”
Megan walked cautiously out from the woods to where it was clearer, and saw a young boy with a dog. He looked shocked to see her and took a step back.
“Please help us,” Megan begged, suddenly feeling desperate.
She dreaded the thought of going back to the group empty-handed, without knowing what crazy thing Sarah might do next. She wrapped both her arms around Britney.
“I have a baby! She needs help. Please.”
The boy stared at Britney’s head, as if he was looking at a unicorn. The dog was sniffing around Megan’s feet, his nose dusted with snow. He looked up at her with startlingly blue eyes.
“Please,” Megan repeated.
The boy called the dog back to him.
“Are you sick?” the boy asked. “Infected?”
“No,” Megan said.
“Ok…come on.”
Megan’s heart leapt. She could take care of Britney. Whatever happened, she could make sure Britney was safe. It was all that mattered.
The family let her in their house. The boy, Adam, looked worried about how his parents reacted, but it was the other man, Buckle, who was most upset. Megan kept one eye on him, intent on not betraying her secret. He reminded her a little of Bruce in his reluctance to help anyone, he said that the village didn’t allow outsiders, but considering how well that had turned out in Sarah’s group, Megan didn’t blame him. Judging by the strength of his presence and how the others looked at him, Megan guessed that Buckle was head of the house. The other man, Derek, had dark hair and was clearly Adam’s father. He obeyed Amy’s every word and looked at Megan with curiosity, like one looks at a strange new animal.
Megan played the helpless card to test their c
ompassion, even acting like she couldn’t pick up the food and feed herself. The woman, Amy, was the most generous. After Megan ate some food and saw that Britney was being fed, she turned her thoughts on the plan. She was supposed to sneak out whenever she got the chance and let the group know there was no infection. Though she had only seen the inside of this one houses, it was clear the village was healthy. No one wore masks and the Evers family seemed relax, or as relaxed as they could be considering Megan was present. They seemed well-stocked, too, and didn’t begrudge her the peaches or meat. They even had baby formula, even though Megan didn’t see any babies or children. To make it easier on herself, Megan told the truth right up to when she lost Blake. She made no mention of Sarah’s group or of anyone helping her. Amy was particularly interested in the fact that Megan had survived the pox. Buckle did not share that interest and wanted to send Megan back out.
“We’ll give her some supplies,” he offered.
Megan felt nervous, not for herself, but for Britney. She didn’t care about being sent out alone, but she couldn’t bring Britney back to Sarah’s group. Thankfully, Amy squashed that idea. Megan thanked the Evers over and over again, and meant it. It was early, but Megan thought the best thing to do was sleep, or at least pretend to. She was led to a bedroom and given a basket for Britney. She could hear arguing and made out a few words. It was clear Amy was her biggest defender. How long would that last, though? Sarah had said to stay as long as necessary, but to not arouse any suspicion. The longer she stayed, the more likely it was for someone to start suspecting her, so Megan had always planned on getting out as soon as possible. Even someone like Amy could change her mind; Sarah had changed. Megan got into the bed and watched Britney sleep in her basket. The Evers seemed like good people, but would they stay that way and take care of Britney? Megan’s plan was to leave Britney with them when she snuck out, but she needed more assurance Britney would be safe. As Megan lay in bed, the first real bed she had slept in since she’d been sick and Blake was beside her, she concocted a plan designed to save Britney’s life.
Band of Preppers (Book 2): Life is Hope Page 3