In the second house, they found more food, but also a shed full of lengths of rope and a shotgun. Aby couldn’t believe their luck. The rope was heavy to carry and the shotgun only had a few spare bullets, but Aby knew both would be useful. When Peaches claimed she couldn’t carry a single other thing, Aby took on the responsibility alone, hooking the rope over her shoulders and carrying the gun as they headed back for Peaches’ house.
It was impossible to appreciate the spoils they’d accumulated until they got home and spilled it out on the floor. Aby stared at the sheer amount of food before them and felt her stomach grumble in anticipation.
“This will keep us going for months,” she breathed. She almost forgot for a moment that she wasn’t planning on staying. She had to find Jake and Megan. But when there was so much food to line her stomach, weapons to keep her safe and a warm bed to sleep in, it was hard to imagine venturing out again. Why would they when they had everything right in front of them?
Aby prayed that somehow, Jake would find her there. She didn’t want to go out into the unknown again. She wanted to just collapse now and relax. But there was more work to be done. They had to make sure their supplies were secure so that no one could easily swipe them the way they’d just done. Aby pushed Jake out of her mind for a while. She had to take the task of survival one step at a time.
“Alright...we need a shovel. We’re going to bury some of the long-life food in the garden. Then we can use the rope to hoist some more supplies up into the tree, out of sight. Sound good?”
“Sounds like hard work,” Peaches sniffed in irritation. “Can’t it wait?”
“No,” Aby said firmly, though she desperately wanted to say yes. She was exhausted. But she knew how quickly things could change in their new world. She knew someone might turn up at any time and try to ruin their hard work. They had to push on to make sure they didn’t fall flat at the last hurdle.
Peaches wasn’t a lot of help as Aby dug a hole for their supplies, but she claimed to be keeping a lookout for trouble. Aby told herself the ache in her shoulders and the sweat on her brow was a product of success, which made it easier to bear. By the time she’d buried the first lot of supplies, she could feel the pang of hunger in her stomach and she was ready to rest, but she forced herself to make a sort of pulley system with the ropes, hoisting a set of supplies wrapped in a sheet up into the tree. It failed a few times and sent the supplies plummeting back to the ground, but after one burst carton of long life milk and a whole bunch of rearranging, she eventually made it work. Peaches even looked impressed.
“I have to say, you’ve done a good job. Why don’t I make dinner? That seems fair after all your hard work.”
Aby wasn’t in any position to argue. She also took Peaches’ offer to borrow some of her clothes. She peeled off her sweaty garments for the first time in days and brainstormed some way to wash their clothes while Peaches cooked them some soup on their campfire to eat with a hunk of still in date bread. As they ate together at the dinner table, Aby felt herself relax a little. They’d done good. They were going to be alright.
“What a day!” Peaches declared as she wiped her mouth at the end of their meal. “I’m exhausted! Have you been running around like this every day since the EMP?”
Aby didn’t want to tell innocent Peaches about the horrors she’d encountered on previous days. It seemed cruel when Peaches was so sheltered from it all. But she considered that maybe if Peaches understood what was out there then maybe she’d pull her weight more. She was about to open her mouth to tell her more when her heart froze. She could hear a car engine and the crunch of wheels on the gravel driveway. Her first thought was Jake.
Her second thought was trouble.
“The gun,” Aby hissed, but Peaches was frozen in fear. Aby leapt to her feet and found the shotgun, heading for the front door. She peered out of the window as a tall, skinny man got out of the car. Her heart sank when she saw it wasn’t Jake, but she wasn’t surprised. It seemed she’d had all the good luck she could have for one day.
Aby was breathing hard as the man approached the house. He seemed to be alone and unarmed. It comforted her to think that she had the upper hand. As he knocked on the front door, her heart skipped a beat. Peaches appeared behind Aby, shuddering in fear.
“What do we do? Do we let him in?”
Aby shook her head furiously. The man seemed harmless, but that didn’t mean he was. She didn’t want to underestimate him. When he received no response, the man knocked again.
“Hello?” he called out. “The name’s Tex...I don’t mean no harm. I’m a friendly face, I swear. I just want to offer you some comfort. I’m trying to set up a friendly neighborhood trading system...we’ve all got to look out for one another, right? Times like these...we could all use a friend.”
Aby met Peaches’ eyes. Peaches clearly wanted to give the man a chance, but Aby held up a finger, telling Peaches to wait. She wanted to hear more about the proposition without giving themselves away. Tex sighed outside.
“Okay, I should explain...you’re right to be cautious, of course. You’re probably wondering, what can this stranger offer me? Well, I’m no salesman...but I think the deal I can give you sells itself. And hey...let me in and I’ll leave my handgun outside. It’s only polite, right?”
Aby chewed her lip. If he was coming inside the house unarmed, where was the harm. She was armed and she had Peaches for backup, even if she wasn’t likely to be of much use. Aby knew that logically, the man wouldn’t stand a chance against her shotgun.
So why was she so reluctant to let him inside?
“I think we should let him in,” Peaches hissed. “It’s my house…I’m opening the door.”
Aby didn’t have the right to protest, even if she wanted to. As Peaches headed for the door, Aby held the shotgun close to herself like a shield. It made her feel safer. When the door opened and Tex was standing there with his hands in the air and his gun on the ground, Aby relaxed even more.
“Hello there, ladies,” Tex said with a charming smile. “Would you be kind enough to let me step inside for a moment and talk to you? I won’t take up too much of your time.”
“Of course,” Peaches said enthusiastically. “It’ll be nice to have a real man around the house for a little while...do come in.”
Aby had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at Peaches’ shameless flirting. As Tex headed inside, Aby kept her guard up, but she didn’t aim the gun at him. He nodded to her politely and Peaches led him through to the living room.
“What a lovely home,” he declared, even though there was clutter everywhere from the day’s activities. He turned back to Peaches and Aby. “I’ve been touring the area. I’m lucky enough to still have a working car...and I’ve found that many people are in a difficult situation. They don’t know how much food they’ll have to keep them going, or how they’re going to defend themselves from thieves. It had me thinking...what if we could all band together and keep each other safe, fed, watered? We must all have something to offer...food...water...farming land...weapons…” He nodded over to Aby’s shotgun. “We might not have equal things to offer...but if we all band together then maybe it’ll be enough to survive.”
“And how are we supposed to trust each other? You could just run off in your car and take the spoils,” Aby said coldly. She’d been double crossed and let down enough times to feel wary of Tex and his offer. He might seem like a nice man on the outside, but something told her that she couldn’t trust him fully. Maybe it was just her paranoia getting to her, but it felt wrong to put her faith in someone she didn’t know. She frowned at Tex, waiting for his answer. In response, he offered her a warm smile.
“Well, I thought perhaps I could take you ladies - or whoever else wants to be involved - along with me to make deals. There’s plenty of room in the car, after all. Why not make use of it? Once deals have been established, you can all make your own way around on foot. The fuel in the car won’t last forever, but I thoug
ht I should put it to use,” Tex said. “I know it’s hard to trust a stranger on your doorstep...but I have my heart in the right place. I’ll tell you what...you can think it over. Think about what you might be willing to trade and what you need. Think about whether you want to trust me...and then tomorrow, I’ll return and get your answer. Does that sound good?”
“I think that sounds perfect,” Peaches said brightly. It was the happiest that Aby had seen her since they met. “Let me see you out to your car...thank you for inviting us to be involved.”
“My pleasure,” Tex said. “What's your name?”
“I’m Peaches...this is my friend, Aby. It was a pleasure to meet you, Tex. We look forward to speaking to you tomorrow.”
Aby kept her eye on Tex as he left the house once again. She didn’t know what to make of him. She desperately wanted to like him. She wanted him to be their salvation, their hope at a normal life. But it felt like normality was too far out of reach to ever be attainable again, and something told her that Tex wasn’t the hero they were looking for...
Ten
Megan
Megan held her hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She’d seen the four men running into the house, but she had been powerless to stop it from happening. Now, as she peered through the window, taking a risk, she saw Jake sprawled unconscious on the floor. The men seemed to be taking pleasure in kicking him and punching him, even though he was clearly out cold now.
Megan was beginning to panic. They’d been in plenty of bad situations already, but Jake was usually the one who got them out. Without even Aby there to help her, how was Megan supposed to rescue Jake? He had succumbed against the five men in the room far too easily. She wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
Her instincts told her to run, but her heart told her to stay and fix it. She could never forgive herself if she didn’t even try to save Jake, the way he’d saved her so many times. He was becoming cruel and cold and self-centred, but it didn’t mean he deserved whatever the men were planning on doing to him.
Besides, what would she do without him? Even though he’d made a bad judgement call and gotten himself into trouble, going it alone wasn’t an option for Megan. She needed someone to guide her along, to be company for her so that she didn’t go insane. She crouched against the wall, breathing hard as she tried to control her fear. She couldn’t give up now. She had to be the strong one for once.
Megan considered rushing in and distracting the men, running away and forcing them to follow her. She was a decent runner, though she was certain she didn’t have the stamina she needed for a long chase. Plus, what would she do even if she escaped? She’d have to go back for Jake eventually, or risk being split up. Besides, if he was out cold, maybe he wouldn’t even wake up again. Maybe a few of the men would stay to guard him and the rest would chase Megan down…
There were too many variables to make the plan a success. Maybe she could try and find help somewhere else. Maybe it was her only chance of making it through alive, but she was terrified that Jake would die before she made it back with help. Besides, most people they came across were more likely to hurt her than help her.
She considered a million possibilities, but all of them seemed to end up with either her or Jake dead. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing she could do to help him until he came back to consciousness.
Inside the house, she could hear the gang of men making a raucous. They seemed to be drinking, though she wasn’t sure where they’d found the alcohol. One of them loudly offered drugs around, which they took from a plastic baggie. When Megan found the courage to peer inside once again, she saw that Jake had been tied to a chair and the group of men were leering over him, taking it in turns to burn him with a cigarette lighter. Jake, barely conscious, seemed to be pleading with them, telling them to stop, asking for mercy, but none was given. They kept going as the night drew in and alcohol led them through the darkness.
Megan stayed crouched in the dark, crying quietly to herself and waiting for some opportunity to make things better. When the noises died down and she looked inside, she saw that all of the men were sleeping in the kitchen, knocked out from the booze. Her heart seized. This might be her one and only opportunity to help Jake. She still ran the risk of waking them up and getting herself killed, but she had to try. She had to see if she could help Jake.
She stretched her aching legs and headed toward the shed. Something told her it would hold something useful in there. It was dark inside and it was almost impossible to see what she was dealing with, but she fumbled around for something of us. She heard a clatter of wooden sticks as she knocked a box of matches from a shelf and her heat stopped.
She had an idea.
It was risky. It could end up killing Jake if it went wrong, but if she did nothing, he would die anyway. The second they got bored of torturing him, they’d end him. With her heart racing, she formed her plan.
It took her some time, but half an hour later, she returned to the house with a bottle of gasoline and her matches in tact. Her heart was in her throat. She wanted to run away and avoid carrying out her plan entirely. But she had to do it. She had to try.
She entered the house as quietly as she could, sloshing the gasoline around her as she went. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, but it didn’t matter so much when she was supposed to be spilling it everywhere. It splashed a little on her pants and she leapt away, terrified that she might somehow light herself on fire. But if she was right, she didn’t need to set the whole house on fire. Now that she’d covered the corridor, she was certain the smoke and the fire would be enough to drive the gang out of the back door without anyone getting hurt...leaving her to save Jake and get the hell out.
The plan terrified her, but it was the only one she had. Lighting a match, she watched the small flame for a moment, knowing how much chaos it could cause. She wished she could just let it burn out. She wished they’d never stopped there at all. But this was her life. She didn’t have any other choice.
She dropped the match.
The carpet went up in flames. Megan rushed through the side door once again to hide, waiting for the flames to wake up the gang and send them running. The heat of the fire licked at her as she scurried away, and she knew she’d never forget the feeling it gave her. She was terrified, but so, so alive.
Her heart was racing as the smell of the smoke roused one of the gang members. His eyes widened when he saw what was happening and he cried out, waking his friends. Then chaos ensued. Jake woke up too, staring in horror at the towering flames as the gang scurried for the door, forgetting their torture victim as they made their escape. Megan shrunk back into the shadows as they thundered away from the house and up the hill, out of her sight. And now, it was time for the hard part. Her chest felt tight with anxiety, but she knew she had to go back inside. She had to run through the fire and get her friend.
She covered her face with her t-shirt and rushed inside.
Eleven
Aby
“You were very rude to that nice man, Aby. Pulling a gun on him and treating him like a criminal...it’s a miracle that he wants to come back!” Peaches huffed as she began to tidy up the place in a frenzy, no doubt preparing for the return of Tex the following day. Aby noted that Peaches hadn’t waited long to take interest in someone that wasn’t her husband. Tex was handsome, she supposed, in an unassuming way, but she knew that even the handsomest man on earth couldn’t sway her from Jake...wherever he was.
“I’m just trying to be cautious, Peaches,” Aby said tiredly. “You should try it.”
“Don’t get an attitude with me, young lady!” Peaches said. She was almost taking on the persona of Aby’s own mother. “I know a good person when I see one. If he was a bad person then tell me how he managed to be so charming?”
Aby didn’t bother to point out that ‘charm’ was a personality trait that many psychopaths had. She paused a few moments to gather her thoughts. She knew Peaches wouldn’
t respond well to her being sassy or rude. She just had to be reasonable.
“Peaches...I’m not saying for definite that he’s a bad person. That’s not what I intended at all. But being careful these days will get you a long way. He could’ve had a secret weapon stashed away, or he might’ve had backup that we couldn’t see. His arrival might’ve been a distraction so that we wouldn’t see an ambush coming.”
Peaches tutted. “I’ve never met such a paranoid person! What happened to you to make you so damn untrusting, Aby?”
“You really want to know?” Aby asked. She had been holding back on the things that had happened to her over the past few weeks. She could see that Peaches was vulnerable, even though she’d lived pretty safely since the EMP strike. She knew that telling Peaches about her past would put fear in her heart, but Aby thought she could probably use a little more fearfulness. If she just let life pass her by, not fearing the things that lurked in the shadows, then she’d be an easy target if a fight came. She needed Peaches to be prepared.
“Go on, tell me,” Peaches said, folding her arms. Aby closed her eyes. The painful memories flooded back to her and made her heart ache.
“I was living in Pittsburgh when it started. My fiance and me...we decided to get out of the city to where we thought it would be safer. We had some companions...Derron and Megan. We holed up in a cabin that Derron owned for a day...but some nut jobs tried to break in, steal our supplies, kill us...I had to kill one of them. It was them or us.”
Peaches blinked several times in shock. “Well...that is terrible, of course. I’m sorry that happened to you. But that’s only one group of people...most people aren’t like that. They don’t go around and just go off shooting people...that’s only for crazy people.”
The End of the World Series | Book 3 | Survive The Destruction Page 6