The animal considered Coru, then turned away and with a few more thudding steps was gone, the forest quiet. It was as if it had vaporized. No sound. No evidence it had been here. Coru wanted to jump up, run after it, call out to tell someone of his experience. Instead, he lay back down, and stared up at the stars, replaying the moment in his head.
Ashamed she’d read him while he was unconscious and vulnerable, Wren slipped away.
It wasn’t until she was nearly at the cabin that she allowed herself to breathe freely. Those were some crazy, out of this world dreams, but were so real, it was as if she were standing with Coru’s crew, studying the plans that could save their world. Huh. So Coru worried the world would be ruined and he pictured himself as its savior. People could have worse dreams.
Just as she was about to step up on the deck, a voice from the darkness called her name. She gave a small scream, cutting it off when she recognized it was Mattea, seated on an Adirondack chair. “Don’t sneak up on a girl like that!” she whispered, plunking down in the chair next to him.
“I’m not as good as you.”
She looked over at him, barely making out his silhouette. “What do you mean?”
He just shrugged and leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He knew what she’d been doing.
She laid back as well. “So, how’d you meet him?”
“You need to know this?”
“Whenever I’m near him, he runs math formulas to keep me out. He’s… he’s keeping a secret, and it’s a big one.”
“I know. He’s a strange one, from a strange land.”
“He’s never told you about himself?”
“He was on a mission. That mission was to find you.”
“But why? And now that he’s found me, why be so secretive?”
Mattea just shrugged.
“You know he knew I’m telepathic before I told you.”
“Nope.”
She was silent for a moment. “You always this accepting of people?”
“Why not? They always show you who they are eventually. You can’t hide who you are for long. It’s not possible.”
“I guess.”
They were silent for a time, the sky lightening gradually. It would be dawn soon. Wren knew she should go inside and get some sleep, but that would mean getting up from this chair, which was much too comfortable. It was good to be home … She caught herself nodding off, so sat up, rested her elbows on her knees and blinked her eyes wide. She turned her head to look at Mattea.
“What’s your story, Mattea? You a survivor of the virus, or are you immune?”
He pulled in a deep breath and let it out with a growl. “Don’t know, honestly. I wasn’t around for the worst of it, same as you.”
“How come?”
“Well, it was like this. I was a drunk. Still am. Skid row special, down in Vancouver. Never rode the needle, just the booze.”
Wren shook her head in wonder. “You don’t look like...”
He trained his gray eyes on hers. “What does a drunk look like, Wren? You know?”
“Sorry. You’re right. I have no idea what I’m talking about.” The image of her mother weaving her way across the carpeted living room of her condo, highball and ashy cigarette in hand, the amber liquid slopping out, flashed into her head. She knew what some drunks looked like …
Mattea gazed across the field at the tall trees that lined the river’s edge. “Yup, there I was, stupid drunk, dozing behind a dumpster in a stinking alley in downtown Vancouver. I heard a voice.”
She grinned despite herself. “Seriously?”
He smiled back at her. “Yup. A voice told me to get my ass up off that pavement and walk itself out of that town, up the highway to a town called Hope and out into the bush. That voice told me to stay in the bush for three months, live off the land and don’t let so much as my nose be seen by another human being until that three months had passed.”
“Did you go?”
“Hell no. I had half a bottle of whiskey in my pocket. I was set.”
Wren giggled.
“Which I then proceeded to enjoy. Passed out. Came to a few hours later and that pesky voice was back, yelling this time. “Get your sorry ass out of this town, up to Hope and walk straight into the bush and stay there. Now I’m not normally a superstitious man, but this time … waaalll, this time was different. This time, I knew it was the Great Spirit. I can’t tell you why, but I knew this was real. I knew my life depended upon me doing as the Great Spirit said.”
He glanced at her, a twinkle in his dark eyes. “Plus, the bottle was empty. So up I got and I started walking.”
“You’re way too young to be a skid row drunk.”
“Oh yeah. What’s the cut off age for being stupid?”
She shrugged. He was right of course. But didn’t skid row drunks shuffle behind stolen grocery carts, loaded with treasures, wearing layer upon layer of dirty clothing, and smiling a gap-toothed smile of apology as they past? Mattea was strong, and fit, his skin unlined, his teeth all in their places, his long hair thick, black and glossy.
He chuckled. “God didn’t make me no fool, though. I hitched most of the way up that highway. But, when I got to Hope, I cashed my welfare check at one of those check cashing places that takes almost half the money – those places should be illegal…” He stopped, considered. “Those places don’t exist anymore. Huh. Anyway, got myself some supplies at the outdoors shop and walked into the bush. And I didn’t come out for three months, just like the voice told me.”
“Wow.”
“The first few weeks out there were deadly.”
“Cold?”
“No. Built myself a little shelter, gathered up some firewood, before the worst of it hit me.”
“The worst of what hit you?”
“DT’s. Withdrawal. Got real sick. Thought I would die.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Some days, I prayed I would.”
“But you didn’t,” she repeated.
“No. The Great Spirit had other plans for me.”
“How did you live out there for three months?”
“Started out on tea, rice and beans, mostly, with the occasional rabbit. When I ran out of rice and beans, it was all rabbit. Then for a time, it was nothing—just water. Got me into fighting shape.”
“Like a purge, or a fast,” Wren murmured, amazed at his story. “And you had no idea about the virus?”
“Not a clue. Walked out after three months, walked through Hope, found it mostly deserted. Spooky. That’s when I came across Coru, in a street fight with four thugs, after his clothes and his pack. He was giving as good as he got, but I could see he wasn’t going to make it, so I threw in with him and we beat their asses.”
“Wow.”
Mattea’s expression grew serious. “While I was out in the bush, I had a vision. I envisioned a man coming to our world, a man who would save us all.” He looked at Wren, his black eyes almost glowing. “That man had a smooth head, with markings on it.”
Wren made a face. “You did not!?”
Mattea tilted his head and lifted his shoulders in question. “Might be true.” His face split with a grin, his strong white teeth contrasting with his russet skin. “Or I might be full of crap.”
18
EXPANSION
The men had been sleeping in the barn loft for a week now, and it was time for a change. Repairing the chicken run and coop, attaching chicken wire to the bottom of the fence and burying it into the earth to discourage digging predators, setting up a goat run, building stalls for the horses, shifting containers of feed, learning to milk a cow—had all taken more time than they’d anticipated.
“One, two, three!” Together, Dan and Sean shoved their shoulders against the old cabin door. It gave way with a crack of wood, the door frame splintering as they stumbled inside with their own momentum. A wide shaft of sunlight knifed into the dark interior. Coru, Mattea, Jarvis, Dan, Nicola, Sean, Catherine, the
n finally Wren stepped inside. It took Coru’s eyes a moment to adjust to the dark interior.
Catherine asked, “What’s that smell?”
“That, my dear, is Au Du Cabine,” Dan told her with a grin. “With a touch of mouse.”
Catherine shuddered and exited the building.
Dan called after her, “They’re probably dead.”
She was already walking back to Wren’s cabin. “Like that’s any better. You are so a man.”
The interior of the cabin was an empty open space, with the main area comprised of an eating/living area. It had a good-sized woodstove in the corner and a rudimentary kitchen. There was a counter-height fridge, a two-burner stove, and the luxury of running water by way of an old garden hose poking through a hole in the outside back wall and positioned over a rusty sink. All this was rounded off by a small counter with a few lower cupboards. There was a tiny bathroom featuring an ancient composting toilet and a small wooden cabinet that held an old pitcher and basin for washing, all currently encased in thick spider’s webs.
Everything was littered with the black bodies of dead flies. There had to be thousands of them.
The wall behind the door featured a row of hooks for hanging clothes and a door that led into a single bedroom to the left—also empty of furniture. Above the bedroom was a generous loft, the same as Wren’s, though hers was much larger. The loft, where the men intended to sleep, formed two good-sized areas over each end of the cabin, left and right. There was a narrow walkway along the front and back walls of the cabin that joined the two lofts, creating a circle, the center of the cabin’s ceiling reaching to the rafters. Like Wren’s cabin, this afforded the two end lofts access to the heat from the woodstove downstairs. Unlike Wren’s, this cabin had no ceiling fan paddles to circulate the heat. Here, the heat would rise and stay up. It would be a problem in the summer, but a blessing in the winter. A ratty old bear rug sagged off the wall, barely attached with rusty nails. When they walked across the floor, a carpet of dried mouse droppings and dead flies crunched under their feet.
Coru climbed the ladder up into the loft. There he found what had once been a mattress on the floor, with pillows and blankets. This was where the mice lived, nested, raised babies and died. Along with a million dead flies. He turned and looked down the ladder at the cabin clean-up committee. In a thick voice, he said, “Everyone better mask up with bandanas for this clean up. You don’t want to breathe this in. It’s bad up here. We need to pull out this bed, take it … somewhere, since we can’t burn it, which is what we should do, then sweep it all out then scrub it all out. Did anyone bring heavy-duty disinfectant cleaner?”
Dan answered. “I have some in my shop. Filtering masks as well.”
Mattea said, “You’ve got everything in that shop.”
“I do,” Dan answered. “And maybe one day it’ll be safe enough for me to move back to my own place, but that day is not today.” His words drained the excitement of setting up a place for the men. The fact they had to hide down here on D.O.A. for the foreseeable future was never allowed to be far from their thoughts.
Coru descended to the main floor. Jarvis had gone around and opened the five windows, unlatching and shoving back the outside wooden shutters. The place was flooded with sunshine and blessedly cool, fresh air. The men were smiling. This place, minus the flies and the mice and all their accoutrement, would be perfect for them.
Coru surveyed his clean-up committee. “Sounds like we’ll have to postpone this task ‘til we have the masks and disinfectant soap. Who wants to go up? Should we wait until dark?
Sean stepped forward. Crunch. An expression of revulsion passed across his face at the sound. “Here’s where I gotta let you guys into a little secret. Stealthy, you ain’t. We watched you at Dan’s place for over two hours. You thought you were being careful, but …”
Dan chuckled, “To be fair, Sean, no one can see you at night. No camo needed.”
Sean grinned. “Not ‘til I flash ‘em my pearly whites.”
“Ya goof,” Dan shot back, shaking his head.
The two sobered, joke time over. Serious now, Sean said, “Me, Dan and Jarvis should go out. We know the place, and we’ve been ghosting the whole area for weeks now and know how to do it without leaving a trail.”
Dan bobbed his head in agreement. “I can put my hands on what we need quickly, and we can do it without leaving a trail back here.”
“Consider yourselves assigned,” Coru agreed, watching Wren’s face. He was beginning to know from her expression when she was dipping into someone’s thoughts. If he was right, she’d done it just now, and he guessed, she’d listened into Dan’s thoughts, and wasn’t happy with what she’d heard. Maybe she should think about stopping her intrusive little habit, then. It would be easier on everyone, especially me. Running math equations was getting old. She turned and left the cabin abruptly, and headed back across the meadow.
Directing his thoughts to the task at hand, he said, “I have some ideas of my own I’d like to get together. Dan, we should talk before you go.”
Mattea interjected, “I’d like to go along, learn what you guys have come up with as viable trails over the last few months. We should all know how to get in and out without being seen. In fact, I’ve been thinking we should have a few bug-out routes set up, in case we need them.”
Coru should have thought of it himself. Picking up on Mattea’s idea, he added, “You’re right. And we should leave supplies buried along the way. An emergency cache at some point at each escape route. Clear paths for the ATVs we could use.”
The men all nodded.
“Should we have lookouts, or station guards near the river?” Nicola added. “Wren’s worried about that, and if she’s worried, I think we all should be.”
Coru knew the boat launch was Wren’s biggest concern, and felt bad at his pettiness over her mind reading. It was her safety net. Who was he to judge how she protected herself?
His main goal was to figure out his team’s weaknesses and strengths and get them working together and safe. Yes, he had his own mission, but leaving these people unprotected simply was not an option—not anymore. Not after Smudge.
He returned Nicola’s inquiring gaze and smiled. Jarvis was nodding his agreement with Nicola. The guy was besotted; Nicola was oblivious.
Coru said, “Wren’s right. It is our weakest point. I’ve spent not a little time thinking about how to close off that entry point. We can batten down the hatches, be snug as bugs down here, but leaving the boat launch as it is would be like leaving the back door wide open.” He stopped there, not wanting to frighten Nicola. “Mattea and I have been thinking we’d build some sort of screen for the boat launch. Not sure how, yet, but we’re working on it.”
Dan’s face brightened. “I’ve been tossing that one around in my head as well. I think I might have the solution, a build on your screening idea. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but if I’m right it should be brilliant.”
Everyone talked out what would be their next move, and quickly assigned ‘missions’. They broke up, leaving the cabin doors and windows open, hoping the breeze would help along the cleaning process. That smell was something else. Sean and Mattea headed for the ATVs, Nicola and Jarvis to the barn. Coru and Dan followed behind, hatching their own plans, which were meant to be a surprise, something special.
In the end, all the men went out, save Bill. Nicola insisted on heading out with them.
Dan and Coru traveled together in Dan’s truck and trailer and went by way of the slide. Mattea and Sean headed out with ATVs through a backway Sean knew, and Jarvis went with Nicola on horseback, sticking close to the river’s edge, but still within the trees, following animal trails.
Each of the three groups had a mission—beyond the task of teaching Mattea and Nicola two secret and secondary routes out of D.O.A.
Dan and Coru would load up supplies for their individual projects at Dan’s farm, plus the masks and disinfecting cleaner, Mattea
and Sean would check for bedding, dishes, and canning jars—Catherine’s request—at two farms up the hill to the Alaska Highway and south of Drury Road by a mile, on which Dan’s and several other farms were fronted. Mattea asked them all to snag any oven racks or barbecue racks they came across. He had two personal projects on the go: a food dehydrator, and a much larger smoker than the little converted fridge smoker Wren had inherited from Jacob Spencer when she’d bought the land. He had plans for Dan’s freezer full of elk.
Nicola and Jarvis had one important mission. They were heading to the top of Drury, just before it connected to the highway in hopes of capturing the mule Wren had told them of. They hoped to bring it back with them to protect the horses, the goats, and Missy and Junior.
A mule in the field would discourage any wolf or coyote from approaching their animals. A horse or goat may be easy pickings for the predators that lived all around them, but add a mule into the mix? No more trouble. A mule took no prisoners and would stomp a wolf to death in very short order. A mule in the field would ensure the predators stayed clear.
Nicola was determined to protect Deklin’s remaining goats at all costs, and Coru supported her new obsession one hundred percent. Deklin had broken through to Nicola in a big way. She was no longer traveling with them in a haze; she was totally engaged, willing to step up to any challenge. She had gone from liability to asset. And Deklin was blossoming under her care.
Coru saw improvement every day in the boy. No, he wasn’t the starry-eyed kid they’d first met, that boy was gone forever after little Smudge’s killing, but he was open to the other children, playing with them timidly at first, then growing bolder and more confident as he accustomed himself to Wren’s acreage. Coru was convinced Nicola’s presence was the reason. The two had come together, and were healing one another. It was one of the bright spots in Coru’s life, seeing Nicola and Deklin come into their own. He wondered nightly about his timing at saving Nicola from Topher. David would still be with them, playing with the children if Coru and Mattea had acted earlier, planned it differently …
Lost Sentinel: Post-Apocalyptic Time Travel Adventure (Earth Survives Series Book 1) Page 20