by Dave Conifer
“There’s like, dozens of empty houses in this neighborhood,” Dewey said. “Why can’t we just pick one and move in? Or we could split up and move in with the other members.”
Nick nodded. “Those are decent options,” he said. “I have another one. I’ve had some meetings on the other side of the development.”
“Meetings? With who?” Sarah asked.
“I’m about to tell you. That’s where I was just coming from. And everything’s gonna’ start happening really fast. Whatever we decide, we have to be ready.” He spent the next ten minutes telling them everything he’d learned about Grover Monroe’s group and what it meant for all of them. After they were hooked, dropped the bomb about who was invited and who was not.
“Well, that’s that,” Sarah said. “You turned them down, right? You’ve known the Helliksons for what, fifteen years? I know you’re not throwing all that away. Right?”
More like ten,” Nick answered.
“Oh, that’s different,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes.
“I didn’t give them my final answer,” Nick said. “I feel bad about it, but what about the rest of us? The rest of you? I don’t think we should stay if we have a choice. It’s going to get bad here. It already is. And just wait until winter, when people are busting up each other’s houses looking for firewood, or a place to get out of the cold.”
“What’s that got to do with Tom and Penny?” Sarah asked. “And the kids?”
“It’s a numbers game,” Nick said. “If I join, I can save all of us, and the Shardlakes, too. If I don’t, we’re all stuck here.” He shrugged. “Tom and Penny are stuck here no matter what we do.”
“A game?” Sarah stared at him. “You’ve already decided, haven’t you?”
“I told them I was on board,” Nick answered. “But if you can convince me otherwise, knock yourself out.”
“Unbelievable,” Sarah said. “Could you live with yourself if you do this?”
“Could I live with myself if I don’t?” Nick shot back. “Then you’d have to stay here, too. With your daughters. Same for Dewey and the Shardlakes. And that would be on me.”
“No it wouldn’t,” Sarah argued. “I’ll do the right thing, no matter what. And this isn’t it.”
“You’ll be singing a different tune next winter if I turn this down,” Nick said, his voice more heated with each word. “You might feel like Saint Sarah right now, giving me the morality lecture. But how are you going to feel in November, when it’s thirty-five degrees and raining, and your girls are shivering cold with nothing to eat, and desperate mobs walking these streets? What about when the snow comes? You need to look ahead and plan for what’s coming. That’s all I’m doing here. I’m facing reality, and you better do the same.”
Tears filled Sarah’s eyes. “But if I leave, we’ll never find Eli,” she said.
“Who?” Dewey asked.
“Her husband, genius,” Nick told him. “Why would you say that, Sarah? He doesn’t know you’re here in the first place. Besides, we’ll be a lot more mobile with Monroe’s group. You might even find a way to get to him.”
Her reddened eyes widened. “You really think so?”
“A lot more chance than you’ll sitting here in Cherry Hill,” Nick answered. “all we have to do is figure out where he is.”
“I think this is a no-brainer,” Dewey said. “We join up and leave. Easy for me to say, though. Like, I’m not the one leaving my best friend here to—“
“Okay, I get it,” Nick interrupted. “I get it better than all of you. I explained my thinking as best I can, and I’m done trying.”
“Do we need to take a vote?” Dewey asked after an awkward silence.
“Not really,” Nick said. “I’m going with them. Everybody else can decide for themselves.”
“Even if the rest of us turn it down?” Sarah asked.
Nick sighed. “I don’t think you’ll turn it down, Sarah, after you give it more thought, and think of your daughters.”
“I’m going,” Dewey announced.
“Somebody needs to shoot over to the Shardlakes and fill them in,” Nick said.
“What about the Helliksons?” Sarah challenged. “Aren’t you going to fill them in, too? Because if you don’t, I will.”
“I’ll do it myself,” Nick said. “I’ll tell them that everything we leave behind is theirs.”
“A lot of good that’s going to do them,” Sarah said bitterly. “It’ll all get taken from them the day we pull out. You know that just as well as I do.”
“You got a better plan?” Nick retorted. Sarah whirled and stomped out of the room. “I didn’t think so!” Nick yelled at her back.
~~~
Nick announced that he was going down to the basement to check for damage, but he knew nobody was buying that. As long as they left him alone, he didn’t care. He did, in fact, walk around for a few minutes down there with his flashlight. Water was dripping from the bedrooms upstairs in several different places, but who cared anymore? He’d just found the key under the paint can when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
“Are you going to sit down here and get drunk again?” Sarah asked. “Just tell me now. I don’t want to sit up there wondering.”
“Maybe,” Nick said. “Maybe not.”
“We need more from you, Nick,” she pleaded. “Don’t you see? Every time you do this, we fall apart. You’re our leader. At least we want you to be our leader. But every time we need you, you’re gone. So tell me right now. Are you already gone?”
“Let’s dial down the drama, okay, Sarah? I don’t know what to do any more than anybody else,” Nick said. “You want me to go up there and start giving orders? I just tried that, and you saw how it turned out.”
“The least you could have done was to stand up for our group against whoever these people are,” Sarah said. “But you didn’t. You let a bunch of strangers rip us apart. I expected better from you.” She turned to leave, but stopped at the bottom of the stairs and faced him. “That’s not really true. I stopped expecting anything from you a while ago.”
~~~
The weather didn’t look good for the solar panel job, but Nick knew it wasn’t his call. He decided he’d better get over to the compound before dark to check in. It wasn’t like staying home was an option. Sarah felt pretty strongly about, well, whatever it was she felt, and he knew she wasn’t going to let up on him.
“Dude, like what’s the plan?” he heard Dewey asking. Nick hadn’t even heard him come down to the basement.
“I don’t have one,” Nick said. “How about you?”
“Nope. But everybody upstairs wanted me to tell you just to make the best deal you can for us. We know you will.”
“Sarah doesn’t think so,” Nick replied.
“Like, she just can’t say the words,” Dewey said, “but she knows your right.”
“The thing is, Dewey, I thought I did make the best deal I could,” Nick said. “It wasn’t exactly a negotiation. And there’s also something else I have to do,” he added. “Something I didn’t even mention.” He explained about the solar panel job. “Hey, how about you come along and help me out with it? I’d like to have somebody I trust working with me.”
“Me?” Dewey asked.
“Yeah, you,” Nick answered. “You’re all I have. What do you say?”
“Sure, I guess,” Dewey said. “When are you leaving?”
“Late afternoon,” Nick told him. “Just make sure to pack before we go do the job. I don’t know how much time we’ll have after we’re done.”
“Dude, I don’t have anything, remember?” Dewey reminded him. “All I have is that toothbrush you gave me the first night.”
~~~
Dewey reappeared in the basement with Nick just a few minutes after he’d gone up. “Um, dude, they wanted me to ask if you were going over to tell the Helliksons, about, well you know,” Dewey said.
Nick exhaled slowly. “Yeah, I guess it’s time
. You want to come? I don’t want to do this alone.”
“Okay. What are you going to say?” Dewey asked.
“I’m not sure,” Nick answered. “But it’ll end with ‘goodbye.’ It has to.”
“What about the Terminator, next door?” Dewey asked. “I forget his name. Are you, like, gonna’ get in his face?”
“Nah,” Nick said. “I’m trying to avoid it. He’s got a lot of guns.”
The sky had brightened considerably by the time they left to see the Helliksons, bringing with it a spike in heat and the stifling humidity that always came after a summer rainfall. It had become the kind of day on which Nick normally hibernated in the air conditioning. Of course, those days were gone.
They walked in silence around the block to the Hellikson’s place. Tom was sitting on the porch. His throat and tongue suddenly thick, Nick didn’t trust his voice at the moment, so he just waved until he was standing right next to Tom.
“Hey,” he said to Tom after taking a seat. Dewey stood awkwardly even though there was an empty chair.
“You guys out on patrol?” Tom asked. “The Outhouse Posse?”
“Look, Tom, we have some news,” Nick said. “It’s not good, exactly. I’m just going to get right to it.”
“What, are the pipes clogged in the outhouse?” Tom said, smiling. “Or did your power go out in the storm?” When Nick’s expression remained grim, Tom turned serious. “I saw your house took a hit. How can I help? You want to move in here with us? Just say the word.”
“There’s a group on the other side of Crestview that’s packing up and leaving,” Nick said. “And some of us are going with them.”
Tom stared, his face frozen in confusion. “What? I didn’t catch that. You’re leaving?”
Nick nodded. “I’m afraid so. Probably tomorrow. Look, I know it’s sudden. Everything I have in my house is yours. I’m leaving with just the shirt on my back.”
“I’m lost,” Tom said. “When did all this happen?”
“Last night,” Nick said. “They made the offer, and I accepted it.”
“What about all the people living with you?” Tom asked.
“It’s everybody’s personal choice,” Nick said. “But yeah, it sounds like they’re all leaving with me.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re not here to ask me to come along?” Tom asked.
“I’m so sorry, Tom,” Nick said. “But it’s by invitation only. I have to do what’s right for the most people.”
Tom shook his head. “This came out of left field. So you’re telling me that us, and the Shardlakes too, I guess, are going to be stuck here on our own?”
There was no point in sugarcoating it anymore. It was time to rip the band-aid off. “The Shardlakes are leaving too, Tom,” he said as he stared at mold spots on the concrete between his feet.
“They’re in on this too? So that’s it? You’re leaving me and my family high and dry here? Is that what you’re here to tell me?”
“Like I said, we’ll leave you everything we have, right Dewey?” Nick said. Dewey nodded silently. “I’ll even leave you my rifle and all my ammo.”
“Gee, thanks, pal,” Tom said bitterly. “That’ll buy us a few extra hours before we run out of bullets and Cronin comes back.”
“Look, you should go see Brian Martinsen,” Nick told him. “He’ll still be here and—“
“Just get lost, okay? Both of you. Get off my porch,” Tom said quietly. “Get out of here. If you have no use for me and my family after all these years, then I have no use for you. Hit the bricks.”
Penny appeared in the doorway. “Oh, hi, Nick!” she said. “Are you gonna’ be here for a while? I’ll be right out after I round up the kids.” She smiled. “At least as many of them as I can find.”
“Stay inside, Penny,” Tom told her. “They were just leaving.”
Penny flinched. So did Nick. He’d never heard Tom talk like that to his wife before. There was no point in hanging around. If they did, it was only going to get worse.
“Okay, Tom,” Nick said, pulling himself out of his chair. He extended his hand, but wasn’t surprised when Tom ignored it. Tom’s face was a mask of simmering anger, an expression Nick had never seen him wear before. He turned away. “Let’s go, Dewey,” he said.
“What was that all about?” Nick heard Penny say as they left. He felt like he’d been walking for hours by the time they were finally off the Hellikson’s property, with Tom and Penny’s eyes boring holes into their backs. He wanted to run. No, he wanted to dig a ditch and throw himself into it forever. Because this was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. And maybe the worst.
~~~
“What now?” Dewey asked after they were out of range of Tom Hellikson’s icy stare.
Nick looked at the sky. It was still overcast, but it appeared that the storm was on its way out, as quickly as it had arrived. “We have a job to do tonight,” Nick said. “We’ll go home and pick up some tools. Then we’ll head over to the compound and get our marching orders.”
~~~
It was dinnertime when Nick arrived back home. Everybody was gathered around the table, but there wasn’t much to eat. They each had a decent serving of water, and a small mound of baked beans from one of the last remaining cans, all served at room temperature. Nobody in the house ever talked about running out of food anymore, but it was obvious that they were. Grover was right. It was time to go.
“Hungry, Nick?” Sarah asked. “We weren’t sure when you’d be back, so we went ahead and ate.”
“No, I’m good,” Nick answered, relieved and surprised that Sarah was still talking to him. “I’ll have some water. I need to go to the compound.” He sat down between Jenny and Ashley in his usual spot. “You still coming with me, Dewey?”
“Uh, sure,” Dewey answered. “But I’m, like, not the best guy with tools or anything. Do I have to go up on the roof?”
“We’ll try to avoid that,” he answered before turning to Sarah. “Will you be okay here? We’ll leave the rifle, of course.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Sarah said. “If we’re nervous, we can go over to the Shardlakes. And hope the Helliksons don’t see us.” When Nick’s eyes narrowed, she looked away. It was just as well. Now was not the time.
Twenty-one
The procedure was the same as the last time when Nick and Dewey arrived at the compound, except that this time Nick’s tool box was temporarily confiscated. Once again Roethke greeted them in the foyer, where he was introduced to Dewey. “The Delaney house is empty,” Roethke said, getting straight to business. “We cleared everybody out a few hours ago. It was just Cronin’s squatters. They probably thought the panels were still working and they’d have electricity, so they moved in.”
“Cronin,” Nick muttered. “Where’d they run off to?”
“Who knows?” Roethke replied. “All you need to know is that they’re gone.”
“I don’t know that. You aren’t very convincing,” Nick said.
“Where’s your crew?” Roethke asked.
“My crew? You’re looking at it,” he said, waving at Dewey. “I thought you’d give me some men.”
“I don’t recall saying that. We’re really busy. I can’t spare anybody.”
“Unreal,” said Nick. “It’s a good thing I brought Dewey.”
“We sent some equipment over earlier,” Roethke said. “A ladder and some rope, and a utility light. And we parked a trailer out back for you to stow the panels in after you take them down. You can put all the equipment in there when you’re done. Somebody’ll pick it up later.”
“You sure you can’t spare anybody?” Nick asked. “Even just a runner who stays on the ground? A third man might make the difference. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee I’ll get them all.”
“You have to get them all,” Roethke warned. “There’s no wiggle room here. And you have to finish the job tonight.”
“Is this some kind of a test?” Nick asked. “Or a
rite of initiation? Come on, man. Cut me some slack, okay?”
“How amusing,” Roethke said. “No, it’s not a test. But I suggest you succeed. Completely.”
“Well, like I said, I’ll try my best,” Nick said. “But I really need another man.”
Roethke sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I can scrounge somebody up. Any questions to go along with these excuses?”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “We’re unarmed. Is it safe?”
“Hmm,” Roethke said. “I’d stay on your toes. It hasn’t been very long since it was a hot zone.”
“A what?” Dewey asked. “Hey, dude, are you sure we want to get involved with this?” he asked Nick.
“I thought you said you cleared it out,” Nick said to Roethke.
“You’ll be fine,” Roethke said. “Just get the panels so we can move on.”
~~~
Nick was still nervous about the mention of Cronin’s name when they reached the Delaney house. They could see immediately that there’d been a battle, just as Roethke had told them. There were bullet holes across the face of the house. Most of the windows were shattered, and parts of the railing of the wrap-around porch were resting in the shrubbery. “He wasn’t kidding,” Nick said. “I should have asked him for some weapons.”
“At least they didn’t leave it to us to kick those dudes out ourselves,” Dewey said.
“Yeah, but you’d think they’d have left somebody behind to hold the place so we can work,” Nick said. “What’s to stop Cronin’s guys from walking right back in? Not us. We’ll be on the roof.”
“Maybe they’re all dead or something,” Dewey suggested.
Nick snorted. “We should be so lucky.”
They walked around back and found the trailer and equipment. Nick extended the ladder, grimacing at the metallic rattle because it would draw attention. After setting up the work light, he leaned the ladder against the gutter. “You okay going up and down?” he asked Dewey.
“I thought I was staying on the ground,” Dewey said. “I’m not so good at ladders. Will I, like, be on the top or the bottom?”
“Both. There’s only two of us,” Nick said. “I need you up at the top with me. You’ll get used to it.”