by David Rogers
“Well, if anyone can get us out of here, you look like you might could pull it off.”
“Son más que viene?”
“I caught ‘more’ but that’s it.” Austin said, glancing from the Hispanic trio to Arcelia.
“He wants to know if there are more coming. More soldiers.” Arcelia said tiredly before looking at the men. “Él era un soldado. Ahora solo es un superviviente como nosotros. No hay otros como él que vendrá para él.” As the men frowned in disappointment, she looked back at Austin. “There aren’t are there?”
“Aren’t what?” Austin asked.
“Anyone else who will come for you?”
“No.” Jessica said, her thoughts flashing to Candice. She fought down a surge of terrible anxiety, forcing herself to stay focused and composed. It was hard. “It’s just us. We’re on our own, like you.”
“Well, pull up a piece of floor.” Byron said, gesturing around. “None of us are going anywhere.”
She looked at Austin again, still fighting her inner battle against breaking down over what she’d done to Candice. If she didn’t get out of here … even alone, the supplies in the house would run out eventually. And there was nothing to say trouble of some sort or another wouldn’t besiege her daughter even while they hung on here in this bewildering prison, to say nothing of if Candice was forced to start foraging to survive.
Austin met her eyes as she worked to stay calm, and nodded slightly, pain in his as they looked into hers.
“I’m going to look around. Sit down, catch your breath.” he said quietly. Then he cracked a slight grin. “Don’t go anywhere. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I think I’ll just hang out with Byron and the guys.” Jessica said, laughing shakily. “Go on, I’ll be here.” He threw one more moment of silent reassurance at her, his face flickering with the subtle hints that told her he cared, then started walking toward the back of the store.
“You guys brought Milo out here?” Byron asked as Jessica folded herself to the floor near Carlo and started slipping her backpack off.
“I went to them to see if they’d help me look for you.” Milo said.
“I can’t believe you came ashore.” Carlo said.
“Neither could we.” Jessica muttered.
“What?” Byron asked as he sat down.
“You’re just lucky we found you.” she said, seizing on her faith that however weird this situation looked, it wasn’t dire yet. That meant there were ways to get out of it, and she decided to cling to that rather than sink into a funk over the mistake that had put her here at all. She’d been trapped before, with and without Austin, with far fewer resources than they had now; even discounting the other people in the building who were just as eager to escape.
“How do you figure?”
“Because as long as I’m here, Austin’s going to come up with something. And if he doesn’t, he’ll come up with enough for me or someone else to take it from there.”
Arcelia looked at Austin, who was just visible beyond some of the overturned shelves, running his hand over the wall while he looked up at the narrow windows above. “He’s something else, but it’s a pretty big ask to expect him to break us all out when the rest of us have been stuck for weeks now.”
Jessica smiled faintly. “Watch him.”
Chapter Eight — The games we play
“Not a seven, not a seven, not a seven.” Candice muttered, shaking the dice. She rolled, then sighed. “Of course.” Reaching out, she took the robber token and considered the board for a moment. But it was just reflexive; she knew the best tile for it. Setting the robber on the ore tile that two of her settlements sat astride, she sighed again, then picked up the cards for Becca, who was one of the imaginary players she was competing against.
Settlers of Catan wasn’t exactly the kind of game that lent itself to solo play, but she’d had plenty of time to work out ways to make the game at least somewhat playable when it was just herself. Which was a lot, since mom and Austin were often so busy with other things. Though they always had game time every night after the sun set and the three of them settled down safely in the house, Candice still had to rotate picks with them. And even then she didn’t always pick Settlers, though she liked it a lot.
Austin tended to favor cards, though he also liked to pick Monopoly just for the way it made mom roll her eyes at his picking such a rigged game. Mom said Monopoly was a game that became purely random once everyone knew how to play. When mom picked, her selections were split about evenly between cards, Scrabble, or Charades. That left the rest of the games more or less to Candice, which she tended to choose from simply to spread out what they played.
With Settlers, which was a game that normally involved a lot of bluffing and misdirection relating to what the players did as they struggled to build cities and roads to achieve victory, it didn’t seem like there was a lot of potential for playing alone while getting to see what everyone held. And it still wasn’t the same as playing against mom or Austin. Especially Austin, who liked to really get sneaky with how he went about things during a game.
Mostly, Candice’s solo rules just made it harder for her to achieve victory. Her two imaginary opponents always cooperated against her, so it was a two-versus-one. They’d trade things they needed evenly, fairly, and willingly. Candice could only trade against the faceless hands starting at a two-to-one ratio against herself at the start, up to a four-to-one when she was near to winning.
The robber always went on one of her tiles, the most disruptive one she could find. Because her ‘opponents’ always knew where Candice was intending to build and expand, she always played them to block and frustrate her intentions, unless there was an obvious better move that would strengthen them without interfering directly with her.
It wasn’t as fun as playing against mom and Austin, but it was fun enough in its own way. Austin called it “practicing against a stacked deck” when she’d explained the solo rules she’d come up with. He’d asked because she’d gotten better at Settlers and started to win more than he and mom combined. According to him, training was always supposed to be harder than when things were real. That way, when you were doing it when it mattered, you could be more confident you were ready.
Candice considered “Becca’s” cards, noted that “she” still needed another grain to upgrade one of her settlements, and checked “Roger’s” to make sure he wasn’t able to trade one. Both hands were grain poor at the moment, so Candice laid their cards back down and picked up the dice.
As she rattled them, she glanced around at the thickening darkness descending in the house. The path lights held it back with their usual warm glow, and the back hall was lit as well, but it still left the house feeling uncomfortable. Not because of the darkness, necessarily, but because she was alone. The house was safe, she knew it. Believed it. And she had everything she needed.
What scared her was the little bit of her that couldn’t help but wonder what she’d do if she did need that long time.
“It’s only the second night.” she told herself. “Mom said they’d be back by the third day, tops. Austin’s with her, and they’re both tough.”
She looked around the shadow-clad room once more, then shook the dice in her hands one final time before tossing them on the table. “They’ll be back tomorrow.”
* * * * *
“Well as prisons go, this one sucks.” Austin said, dropping himself down next to Jessica where she sat in a loose huddle with the other Houseboaters.
“Except for the zombies.” she told him.
“Yeah, except for them.”
“What do you mean it sucks?” Carlo asked.
“I mean that we’re free to work, everyone’s still got gear and weapons, and there’s not any environmental pressures like food or water, even heat, since they stocked the place and it’s the middle of winter.”
The building’s temperature had dropped from comfortable to somewhat chilly in the usual predictable pattern a
s the sun had gone down, but everyone had sufficient clothes to combat that and not shiver. Jessica found it amusing. She’d used to watch TV or movies, usually set in LA or some other location in Southern California. And she’d always wonder why the characters in such wonderful tropical climates would suddenly be in jackets and such when the sun dropped.
Living in South Florida now, she got it. Sure the days were nice and wonderful, zombies excepted, but when the sun retreated … it could get a little cold. And she’d used to think those shows were just doing it to flex their wardrobe muscles.
“You don’t sound as defeated as I expected.” Byron said.
“I can think of a couple of ways we can get out of the building that don’t go near the door or front windows.” Austin said. “So we can start from just about any direction we want. That’s not the real problem though.”
“Zombies.” Jessica said.
“Right, and those crazy bastards on the roofs.” he agreed. “I’ve been watching all afternoon, as I was exploring, and they’re always up there. I can only see the ones across the street, but I’ve identified multiple different people; so they’re changing personnel out to avoid being bored.”
“Or to go do other things.” Arcelia said.
“Or something else, yeah. But even if the other roofs are less vigilant, and even if we take care of the zombies, we’ll still have to deal with them.”
“Deal with — they’ve got guns up there.” Milo said.
“Probably other things too.” Austin said.
“Other—”
“If it were me, and I was supposed to be keeping prisoners in the building from a good spot like those roofs, I’d have more than just guns. Explosives, even improvised bombs like Molotovs or whatever, would be one of my first options. Those can be tossed over while staying down behind the walls, and would do a number on anyone out in the street.”
“If they start tossing bombs, we’re finished.” Nate said.
“I know. Especially since I don’t think we’ve got anything we can counter that with.”
“What makes you think they’ve got bombs up there?” Carlo asked.
“I’m not saying they do. I’m just saying I would.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone has your resume.” Byron said, making a wry face.
“Hey, I’ve run into more than a few gung ho guys in my time. And you’d be amazed at how creative even ordinary infantry can get when they’ve got time to pull something together. It doesn’t take a tactical genius to come up with bombs or some sort of indirect weapon.”
“Tactical genius is it now?” Jessica murmured, putting an amused note in her voice.
“No, but I’m the best available. Unless you can tell me something I haven’t already figured out about the rest of our fellow prisoners.” he said, grinning unrepentantly at her.
“Well they’re all survivors.” Byron said, and Jessica found herself nodding along with everyone. Everyone except Milo, who seemed confused by the statement. “But are any of them trained like you, no.”
“Any hobbyists?” Austin asked.
“Hobbyists?”
“Like gun guys, hunters, spent time before the outbreaks shooting or maybe even playing regular paintball or something like that.”
“No, not that I’ve found out.” Byron said, shaking his head. “I guess it’s probably a tossup between either the kids or the Spanish guys who might be the toughest if you had to … you know, put them beside you and hope they’d deliver good backup. But the other four, the old guys or the girls, they’re not civilians either.”
“They got caught up in this, and came armed, so I didn’t figure they were useless.”
“Wait, the girls?” Jessica said. “Just because they’re girls—”
“Nothing personal.” Byron said quickly. “And not chauvinistic either. But you’ve got to be fair, between you and Austin, he goes out more, right? Unless you guys changed it up recently. And I’ve been out a lot, at least as much as Austin. Ask him how often you see girls out here alone, kicking ass.”
“No one’s really doing a lot of ass kicking, whatever door they’d take into a restroom.” Austin said quickly. “But, yeah, it’s more of a guy thing to be front lining.” He gave Jessica a grin. “You’re exceptional.”
“Hmm, I guess I’ll just have to take that as a positive.” she said.
“Thanks, now—”
“And beat your ass about it later, when we’re out of this mess.” she added with a malicious chuckle.
“Okay, look, we’ve got bigger problems.” Byron said hastily. “You two can make out back at the house.”
“Needs must.” Austin said, so dryly innocent that Jessica slapped at him in indignation.
“Shut it.” she said firmly. “You spent the afternoon poking at the building. So do you want to hear what Byron knows about the people in here who are going to be in on any breakout plan we put into action?”
“I’m all ears.”
“The kids are athletes, football and basketball. They got out of Miami and sort of kept going when things got bad. They spent a few weeks trying to work into the east coast cities, hoping to find their families; well, Wes’ and Ed’s anyway. U’s mom lived in Jacksonville. By the time they gave up trying to find the other two’s parents, everything was in ruins and they’ve just been in survival mode ever since.
“They were near Indiantown when it collapsed, but hadn’t taken up residence in the camp; that’s why they’re still alive. From what they say, they’ve been camping south of here, out in the Everglades.”
“U?” Austin asked.
“U. That’s all they call him.” Byron said with a shrug. “He apparently doesn’t like whatever name his mom gave him, just goes by U.”
“Wait, in the swamp?”
“So I gather.”
“That’s pretty difficult terrain.” Austin observed. “Why haven’t they figured something else out?”
“They had some pretty bad experiences when they went looking for their parents. It sort of, well you know, so they lit out to get some distance from all the problems.”
Austin shook his head. “Let me guess, they needed supplies.”
“Bingo, same as everyone here.” Byron nodded. “In their case, they just came up US-27 hoping to load up and go disappear again.”
“Drew the same shit card we all did.” Arcelia observed sourly.
“The women,” Jessica said, giving Byron and Austin significant looks as Austin shrugged helplessly to Arcelia, “are Tori and Donita. “They were in Naples when it started, got out early but went to Fort Myers, and got out of that just in time. They’ve been together the whole time, living in Hendry County near some other squatters, ever since.”
“If it’s just been the two of them, and they were willing to come into Belle Glade, then they’re probably tough enough to help out.”
“Pretty much.” Jessica nodded. “I mean, how else does anyone hang on this long?”
“Luck.” Milo said.
“Yeah luck, but some grit too. Especially if they didn’t hook up with others.” Austin said.
“Hook up?” Jessica asked.
“Link up.” Austin amended, giving her a wink. “This is serious. Focus.”
She smiled faintly, but let it go and nodded her head at the other trio of men in the store. “Rico, Jorge, and Diego. They’ve been nomads. Arcelia says they were day laborers in Hollywood, and have been roaming around pretty much since the outbreak.”
“Except for Indiantown.” Arcelia said.
“They got out of there?” Austin asked.
“Yeah. They’d ended up with a truck, a semi, that had been on the way to deliver to a grocery store. Spent some time camping in it, living off the food and stuff in it, then decided to go be good citizens and donate it to the evacuation camp.”
Austin winced, while Byron and Carlo nodded soberly.
“Yeah.” Arcelia said with a shrug. “Only three of them got out — there were se
ven of them initially — and they’re pretty cautious now. They apparently killed a couple of the Crazies on the way in, before they ran out of room like the rest of us and ended up here.”
“Before or after they started being herded?”
“What?” Arcelia asked.
Austin gestured vaguely outside. “When they shot the guys, the Crazies. Was that before or after the Crazies started siccing zombies on them.”
“Oh, after.” she said immediately. “They’re really nice guys. Just because they can’t speak the language doesn’t make—”
“That’s not what I meant.” Austin interrupted, his tone firm. “But if they were shooting people on sight—”
“They weren’t.” she said, interrupting him right back.
“Okay then. What about the old guys?”
“The old guys are Ben and Phil.” Jessica said. “Retirees. Phil was a pilot for Delta. Ben was an insurance adjustor. They were down here alone, no local family.”
“They’re both from the Northeast.” Byron interjected.
“Well that’s probably why they’re still alive then,” Austin said as several of them winced, “since if they’d been up there their odds would’ve gone from shitty to basically zero.” The outbreak had been bad everywhere, but had especially hammered the biggest cities hard. Up in the huge sprawls of metro areas and heavily settled cities in the country’s northern coastal areas, the zombies had literally torn everything apart in a matter of days.
“They’re another scavenging team, say they’ve got some friends over near Sixmile Bend. They’ve been doing okay, and I believe them, until now. Ben seems to actually like it, the zombies I mean. He says it’s a lot more interesting than sitting around playing bridge and watching TV.”
“A little too interesting.” Jessica said dryly.
“No argument.” Byron said.