by Poe, S. B.
“How?”
“Guile and determination.”
“And guns?”
“Not entirely. There was an altercation, as I was told, in the early days between Tilly and some ne’er-do-well. They ended up absconding his domicile after his untimely but intentional demise.”
“They killed him?”
“Tilly reacted at his attempt to procure her for his own amusement with determined and irrevocable resolve.” Cameron said.
“That is a hell of a turn of a phrase.” Naomi smiled. “But I’m not judging. Everyone has done things to survive.” Naomi said.
“Including welcoming people into their fold in spite of the conditions throughout the world almost insisting that they don’t.” Cameron said. “Now make no mistake, they are not to be trifled with but they are not inherently nor deliberately threatening. Since I have been fortunate to count myself among their ranks, I have seen what I truly believe to be the best of humanity. They have suffered but in their suffering they have found strength.”
“I’m sure. I had just hoped they would welcome us instead of suspecting us.” Naomi said.
“They have welcomed you. But they will be suspicious until they aren’t.” Cameron said.
“When will that be?” Naomi sighed.
“When Tilly encountered and dispatched the ne’er-do-well I previously mentioned he was not alone. He had an accomplice. A partner.” Cameron said.
“What happened to him?”
“You see that man over there sitting on the couch that has been relocated to the front porch?” Cameron said.
“The guy that looks like he’s stoned all the time?”
“Ha, yes. That’s Ed. He was the partner. And yet here he sits.” Cameron said. “Under the circumstances of their meeting he truly has no reason to be alive. They could have dispatched him and left him to become another lost story buried in the mud and no one would have ever missed him. But they didn’t. Not because he has anything to offer or anything of worth, but because they do.”
“What’s that?”
“Simple compassion and a providence given appreciation of life. And even though they may now seem to be antagonistic towards you, I promise they are only that way because they have to be.” Cameron said. “They are searching for a way to accept you and they will do so until they have satisfied for themselves that you are worth accepting.”
“We are.” Naomi said.
“I take you at your word. But words are cheap commodities in these days.” Cameron said.
“Well maybe tomorrow we’ll start getting past words. It seems we are going to be working together. Even if it is as the watchers and the watched.” Naomi said.
Moving
The next morning, as the sun began to brighten the eastern sky and the clouds began slowly spreading apart, Kate stepped onto the porch. Between the clumps of grass and weeds that now spread through the cracks of the road, the asphalt underneath sparkled in the wet left over from the night’s showers. Scott stood in the yard watching the two people walk down the street towards the house.
“Good morning Scott.” Abby said.
“Good morning Abby, you too Joel.” He nodded.
“Is your mother around?” Joel asked.
“Right up there.” Scott pointed to the figure lingering under the shadow of the porch.
Joel and Abby walked down the walk towards the porch. Scott followed.
“Good morning Kate.” Joel said. “I know we haven’t really gotten to talk much but I was wondering if you could do me a favor.”
“Depends on what you have in mind but I’ll try.” Kate said as she met them at the top of the steps.
“Nothing all that difficult. I would just like for you to keep an eye on Abby for me.” Joel said.
“Dad thinks I need a baby sitter. I don’t.” Abby protested.
“I’m not trying to get a baby sitter. I just want to know that you’re going to be okay.” He said.
“I can go with you.” Abby said.
“No, not an option.” He said.
“It’s cool. You can help me split wood for the stove.” Scott said.
“See, you have a job now.” Joel said.
“Fine.” Abby said.
“Come on.” Scott said. They walked around the other side of the house where the wood was stacked. Joel and Kate watched them go.
“Why isn’t it an option? She’s one of you right? Immune?” Kate asked.
“She is. But we’re going back to our compound. I don’t know if Caleb left anyone behind to guard it or not. I’d rather not take the risk of putting her in a situation we may not be prepared for.” Joel said.
“You think they would be violent?” Kate asked.
“I don’t know. But I made a promise a long time ago I would do everything I could to keep her safe.” Joel said.
“But these people you are afraid of were your friends, right?” Kate said.
“They were. And they may still be, but I’m not sure. And that means I won’t take the risk.” Joel said.
“If they’re so dangerous why were you with them in the first place.” Kate asked.
“In the beginning we didn’t have a choice. They were the only option. And that was fine. Everything was good. I thought I had lost her when this first began. I was given a second chance with our group. Hannah and Cyrus were the first two we met that were like us. I trust them more than anyone now. When they said it was time to leave, I didn’t even ask why.” Joel said.
“But the others?” Kate asked.
“Good people. I guess. But there were issues. I didn’t need Hannah or Cyrus to tell me that. You could feel the tension as time went on.”
“Tension over what?” Kate asked.
“Direction. Leadership. Purpose. All the things that bring empires down.”
“That’s what you thought you had? An empire?” Kate raised her eyebrow.
“No, just making a comparison.” Joel said. “The infighting was almost every day by the time your son showed up.”
“He didn’t show up. Your people took him.” Kate said as she felt a surprising tinge of anger rise up.
“I’m sorry. Cyrus was just trying to make sure he and the girl…”
“Ham.” Kate interjected.
“He and Ham were safe. He found them alone in the woods. He was just trying to protect them.” Joel said.
“And now you want me to return the favor or something?” Kate asked.
“Listen, I don’t mean to upset you. But I am going to do whatever I have to do to make sure she is safe.” Joel said.
“I’m sorry. I’m not upset. Of course we’ll watch her. I didn’t mean to be so…well you know.” Kate said.
“It’s okay. Thank you.” Joel turned to walk away.
“It’s just that I spent a week worrying if I had failed to keep Scott safe. Worrying if I was ever going to see him again. It tore me apart. Some of the pieces are still trying to fit back into place.” Kate said.
Joel paused and looked back. He smiled.
“Fair enough.” He turned towards the street. She watched him as he walked away.
Jennifer stood at the open gate. The truck was parked beside the bus. She watched Josh and Lori as they helped the others climb into the back.
“Got everything you need?” Bridger asked as Jahda and Devin climbed into the back of the truck with Charlie, Joel and Hannah.
“Yeah, we’re ready.” Jahda said. “What do you expect out there?”
“I don’t know. It should be simple. But she’s not sure if some of their group is still there or not.” Bridger said.
“You got a plan if they are?” Devin asked.
“Plan? You two are my plan.” Bridger said. “I’ve seen both of you get into and out of all kinds of shit. I figure you’ll just keep doing what you been doing.” He smiled.
“We like running.” Devin said.
“Best plan I’ve heard in a month.” Bridger slapped the back of the tailgate a
s he latched it in place. Naomi came around the side of the truck.
“Ready?” She asked.
“Why not.” Bridger said. “You drive. You know the way right?”
“I know the way.” She said.
“Good. First though, I want you to take me to your burn pit. Trust but verify and all that.” He said.
“Sure. Let’s go.” She said. They climbed into the cab of the truck.
Bridger watched as she flipped the switch on and hit the start button.
“You’ve driven a deuce before?” He raised his voice over the engine noise.
“Yeah, I love these old fuckers.” She smiled.
“Well, let’s go then.” He sat back.
Jennifer closed the gate behind them and climbed the ladder to the top of the bus.
The truck rolled down the street for about a quarter mile and stopped.
“What are we stopping for?” Bridger asked.
“Cyrus.” Naomi said. “He’s joining us.”
Bridger watched as the big man that stays outside their gates appeared at the door of the house they had stopped in front of.
“He lives here?”
“He lives out here.” Naomi said. “He feels safer among the infected than among the living.”
“Why?”
“He never really talks about it but I know it has a lot more to do with things that happened to him before.” Naomi said.
“How so?”
“Let’s just say that his world went to shit a long time before it did for the rest of us.” She said.
Bridger watched in the side mirror as Cyrus climbed in the back of the truck with the rest of them. They started down the road again.
The flicker of sunlight through the trees jostled Bridger from his daydream. The truck’s monotonous drone and the smell of diesel had taken him back to a different time. He looked around and realized they were getting close to the co-op. She slowed and they took the little side road that ran parallel to the parking lot. They drove between the two fields and Bridger began to smell spent gasoline and something else. She didn’t need to point it out to him when they pulled to a stop. He got out and slung his rifle over his shoulder.
There was a dirt turnout that the last farmer that planted these fields probably used to park his tractor in between plowing and sewing. The dirt was burnt. He could see dozens of skulls among the mixture of ash and bone. He walked closer. Some were still smoldering slightly and the wisps of smoke settled over the piles like fog clinging to the moist ground. The smell was sickeningly sweet.
“Satisfied?” Naomi asked as she walked up beside him.
“Yeah.” He said.
He turned and looked at the others standing in the bed of the truck looking over the blackened landscape in front of them. Jahda nodded her head and sat back down. The others followed her lead.
“Let’s go.” Bridger said as he turned and climbed back in the cab.
Abby sat down beside the tree and took a drink from the water bottle. She wiped the rim and stuck the bottle out towards Scott.
“Want some?” She asked.
He put the axe down and wiped his forehead with his sleeve.
“Sure.” He took the bottle and drank.
“I wish we had been here the whole time.” She said. “It’s nice.”
“We didn’t start here.” He said.
“Where did you come from?” She asked.
“South Springs.” He said.
“Where’s that?” She asked.
“Seems like a long ways away. But I guess it’s really only about a hundred miles, probably less.” He said.
“Do you want to go back?” She asked.
“I don’t know, maybe. Where are you from?”
“Atlanta.” She said. “It doesn’t even seem like a real place now. Like a memory of a dream or something.”
“That’s where it happened? Your bite?” Scott asked.
“Yeah.” She sighed.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to upset you. Hannah told me kind of what happened.” He said.
“It’s okay. I just don’t like talking about it.” She said.
“I understand. I don’t talk about what happened to my dad either.” He said.
“Do you want too?” She asked.
“I don’t know. Sometimes. I miss him. I try to remember him. His voice. Sometimes when it’s really quiet, I can almost hear it. But then it’s gone.” He said.
“What was he like?”
“He was a dad. He was goofy and clumsy. He was hard at times but he tried to be a friend when Josh and me needed it. I really never knew what he was like when he was in the army. I was just a baby when he got out. Mom doesn’t really talk about it but I know he had bad dreams and stuff. I remember when I was maybe three or four waking up in the middle of the night to pee. I could hear him crying in the living room. He was watching some war movie and crying like a baby. It scared me.” He said.
“Scared you?”
“Yeah, I didn’t think he cried. I thought he was sick or something. He was I guess but I didn’t know how.”
“What do you mean?”
“He had nightmares from the things he had to do in the army. Mom told me once that he had to keep a lot of stuff inside because no one really understood. He went to the VA once a month to talk to people who did.” He said.
“Did it help?” She asked.
“Yeah. I guess it did. When I was little, he used to yell a lot. But by the time I was ten or twelve I almost never heard him raise his voice. Funny the things you remember.” He smiled.
“My mom was pretty strict. But she didn’t yell. She just grounded me.” Abby said.
“Grounded you? For what?” He asked.
“Stupid stuff. Bad grades mostly.” She said. “My first year of middle school was pretty hard. I kind of started hanging out with this girl that was really mature.” Abby held her hands out in front of her chest. “Know what I mean?”
“Yeah.” He smiled sheepishly.
“Well she kept me in trouble. I skipped class a few times and got caught smoking at school.” Abby said. “Mom freaked.”
“What did she do?”
“Well, I don’t think I talked to Gina, that was the girls name, for a year. Mom called the school and made them change my schedule so we barely crossed paths. She wouldn’t let me use my phone for like six months.” She said.
“That’s harsh.” He said.
“That’s what I said.” Abby smiled. “But now I’d give almost anything to see that look on her face when she’s really pissed. I’d give almost anything to see her at all.”
“Me too.”
“You’d like to see my mom?” She smiled.
“No, my dad.” He looked at her. “You knew what I meant.”
“Yeah. And yeah.” She stood. “We’re a lot alike ain’t we? Half orphans.”
“Half orphans. I like that.” He said. “I think we have enough for a while.” He looked over the pile of split wood. “You wanna help me stack it?”
“Can’t I just sit here and watch you do it? I’d rather not get all dirty.” She said as she stood.
He looked at her. Her face was smeared in sweat and dirt and her hands were as blistered as his from swinging the axe. Her clothes were covered in dirt with wood chips clinging to the sweat that had soaked through.
“Are you serious?” He asked.
She tilted her head and put her hands on her hips.
“You’re not. Okay, I get it.” Scott smiled. “Let’s get this finished up.”
“And then?” She asked as she started grabbing pieces of wood.
“And then we eat.” He said.
“I really do like this place. I mean it.” She said.
“You think you wanna stay?” He asked as he stacked the wood on the pile.