by Kathy Miner
“Hey, Jack! There’s someone here named Scott, and he says you better straighten up and ask his daughter to marry you properly, so he can give his permission and get on with his afterlife!”
TWENTY: Jack: Beaver Island, Michigan: February
The distant sound of the kitchen door thumping shut yanked Jack out of a nightmare. Fog, and fire, and someone screaming. Someone he wouldn’t be able to help. He blinked in the dim, early-morning light, trying to orient himself while he listened to stockinged feet run lightly up the stairs. Moments later, swift rustling sounds were followed by a waft of frigid air, and Piper was burrowing under the covers towards his warmth.
“Sweetheart,” he said hoarsely. “I love you with my life, but if you stick your cold feet on me, I swear I’ll…okay, I can’t come up with anything. Just have mercy.”
She snuggled her cold face into the crook of his neck instead, then pulled back, reaching up to touch the sweat that hadn’t yet dried on his forehead. She frowned, her eyes meeting his in the dim light. “Was it a bad one?”
“Nah.” He pulled her face back where it belonged, then wrapped around her with his arms and legs, avoiding her icy feet. “Not even a 3 on the Richter scale. So, is there a new little person in the world?”
He felt her smile against his throat, and joy filled her voice. “Micah Alexandre Nolette was born in the wee hours of whatever dark February day we’ve got going on here. He weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces, give or take, according to the kitchen scale. I haven’t the faintest idea how long he is, but mom and baby are doing very well. Dad was both elated and weepy when I left, and his big brothers are jazzed, though Bastian is a little green around the gills. They were there for the entire production, and I’ll tell you what – I could present a strong argument for birth attendance as birth control for teenage boys.”
Jack grinned against her forehead. “You’re wired.”
“Yep, for about fifteen more minutes, probably.” Jack started rubbing her back, long, soothing strokes, and she sighed, speaking around an enormous yawn. “Make that ten. I haven’t slept, not a wink.”
“Then sleep.” He pitched his voice just so, murmuring against her temple of his love for her, his pride in her, his deep contentment in their lives together, soothing her as only he could. In under two minutes, she was limp and snoring her soft, purring snore of complete exhaustion. Jack smiled, smug. She slept so restfully when he put her out like this, and was always appreciative when she woke up. Often very appreciative. Jack’s smile turned to a grin.
He drifted off with her, ignoring the rising sun. Everyone here seemed to sleep a lot during the winter months, and he was no exception. He was skirting around the edges of another dream, a benign, nonsensical one this time, when a sound began to penetrate his sleep, a sound he recognized but shouldn’t be hearing. He woke with a start when Piper sat bolt upright, then launched out of their bed and began dressing swiftly. Their eyes met, and they spoke in unison.
“Helicopter.”
She beat him down the stairs and out the door, feet hastily stuffed in her boots, parka flapping open as she tucked her rifle against her chest and ran. Jack cursed steadily under his breath, calling after her as he snatched up her shotgun and slammed out the door behind her.
“Piper, darn it! Wait!”
Their cottage was situated on the north shore of Font Lake, just a hundred yards east of the Nolette’s. Jack looked towards their property and saw Gavin and Luc running through the trees towards the lake as well, Gavin armed with a pistol, Luc with his bow. They converged where Piper had tucked herself behind a stand of trees, watching an orange and blue helicopter hover over the frozen lake. Jack squinted.
“Flight for Life? Seriously?” They all exchanged glances. Piper was scowling, looking from her chest to Jack’s, and back at the helicopter.
“It’s someone we know,” she said. “I think. The bonds are tentative.”
“Bonds? More than one?”
Piper didn’t answer, just shrugged, her total attention focused on the helicopter. It settled onto the ice as delicately as a bird perching on a tree branch, and the pilot cut the rotors. Jack could see three dark figures inside moving about as they pulled on outer wear. Then the door popped open, and a very large, very armed man stepped out. Piper tensed and brought her rifle to her shoulder, sighting in. Even in the bitter cold, sweat beaded her upper lip.
The man examined the wind-swept ice at his feet and around the helicopter, nodding to the occupants still inside. Then he turned, scanning the shoreline, his gaze coming to rest on the very stand of trees they were concealed behind. Moving with deliberation and care, he slung his rifle over his shoulder, then held his hands up and to the sides, and called out.
“I know you’re there, behind those trees, and I know you’re armed. I can feel it. We’re not here to cause trouble – we’re looking for Piper.”
Piper squinted and lowered her rifle a fraction. “Tyler? Is that you?” Then she made a low, distressed sound that made the hackles on Jack’s neck rise, and her rifle snapped back to the ready. “Who’s with you? Who the fuck is with you, Tyler? Answer me now!”
Tyler froze. “Piper, he’s not here. Brody is not with us. Do you hear me? Brody is not here.”
She sagged, her face white as the snow around them, and would have gone to her knees if Jack hadn’t caught her around the waist and braced her against his side.
“We hear you,” he called, as he lifted Piper’s rifle out of her slack hands and engaged the safety.
Gavin stepped to Jack’s side and took the rifle from him. “You know them?”
“I do,” Piper said. She took a deep breath, and some color began to return to her face, though she still clung to Jack’s supporting arms. “The last time I saw Tyler, he was with Adam and Brody.” She squinted again at the helicopter. “So, if that’s not Brody, who is it?”
Tyler helped a much smaller figure descend from the helicopter. The person began taking short, uncertain steps across the ice towards the shore. “Piper? Are you there?”
“Oh my God!” Piper pulled away from Jack and floundered to the edge of the lake, stepping carefully onto the ice and scooting forward with her arms open. “Grace! Gracie, what on Earth are you doing here?”
They were both giggling wildly by the time their slow-motion, “run across the meadow” greeting met in the middle. They skidded together and almost fell, laughing as they clung to each other and rocked in joyous embrace. An even larger man than Tyler exited the helicopter, just as heavily armed, and all of them started across the ice. By the time they arrived on the shore, Jack was shuddering with the cold, and he’d at least managed to get his parka closed. Piper was beaming, arm in arm with Grace, but her lips were blue.
Jack pulled Grace into a bear hug, rocking her just as Piper had. “My God, sweetie, it is so good to see your face!” He kissed both her smiling cheeks, then let her go, and gestured. “Quick introductions, then I have to get my wife inside before she turns into an icicle. Gavin and Luc, this is Grace, the daughter of a dear friend in Colorado Springs, and –” He only hesitated a moment over the word, “Friends of Piper’s, also from Colorado. Sorry, fellas, we only met briefly, so you’ll have to do the honors.”
“I’m Tyler,” Tyler reached out and shook hands with Gavin and Luc, then stepped to the side so the other man could do the same. “And this is Adam.” Then, he zeroed in on Piper and grinned. “Wife?”
“Lots to tell, guys. Lots to tell. Come to our cabin – we’ll feed you, settle you in.” She looked at Gavin and Luc. “I’m guessing you two will want to get back to the new baby?”
Gavin nodded, but Luc looked at Piper. “I’d like to come with you, if that’s okay. I want to hear the news.”
“More the merrier, if it’s okay with your dad.”
Gavin clapped his hand on his son’s shoulder, grinning. “The new daddy is going back to bed.” He nodded to the newcomers. “Looking forward to hearing that news myself when I
’m not so tired I could fall over. Welcome to Beaver Island.”
Piper linked arms with Grace again, and they headed towards the cabin, Adam and Tyler a few steps behind, Jack and Luc bringing up the rear. Their little cabin felt even smaller as they tried to find spots for everyone to shed their gear and find a seat. Luc built up the fire in the wood burning stove while Tyler slipped out to secure the helicopter. Jack and Piper distributed food and hot drinks all around, and, finally, the stories began.
Grace began, with Tyler and Adam interrupting to elaborate, or occasionally, to tease. The closeness between the three of them was obvious, as was the relationship between Adam and Tyler. They touched each other easily and often, the warmth between them tangible. Grace was more at ease than Jack had ever seen her, teasing right back when one of the men ribbed her. When Piper asked how they’d ended up landing on the lake instead of at the airport, Grace answered.
“Tyler wanted to land at the airport – we’re low on gas – but Adam insisted on heading north. He was positive he could feel where we needed to be, even though statistically speaking –”
Before she could finish speaking, both Adam and Tyler threw their hands in the air, groaning and hooting. Adam stood up and caught Grace in a gentle head-lock, scrubbing her hair with huge knuckles. “What did I tell you would happen if you ever used the phrase ‘statistically speaking,’ ever again? What did I tell you, baby girl?”
He released her, and she sat back, laughing, disheveled and pink-cheeked. Emotion swamped Jack, seeing her like this, so youthful, so playful and free. He had to turn his face away and swipe a hand over his eyes. Piper turned her head and met his gaze. Her pretty green eyes were bright with unshed tears as well, and they smiled at each other in perfect accord.
Grace explained how she and “the boys” had come to be together, then met Piper’s gaze, sobering. “Brody was with them. He told me his name was ‘Levi,’ but I knew. I knew it was him, Piper, and at first, I told myself I was using him as a means to an end.” She paused, and her throat worked as she swallowed. She seemed to shrink into herself, and both Adam and Tyler leaned closer to her as she gazed at Piper. “But he became my friend. He understood me, and I understood him. I cried for him when he died. I’ll understand if you can’t forgive me.”
Piper leaned forward and gathered Grace’s hands into her own, never breaking eye contact. “We’ll talk, just you and me, but there’s nothing to forgive. Nothing at all, Gracie.” She paused. “He is dead, then.”
“Yes.”
Piper turned her head to look at Jack. “I knew. I meant to ask Cass to confirm, the night of the Harvest Festival celebration.” She grinned at him for just a moment, that grin that always made all of his nerves wake up and pay attention. “But someone distracted me with a marriage proposal.” She turned back to Grace and the boys. “How did it happen?”
Tyler cleared his throat. “I know it may be hard to believe, Piper, but he died a hero. He took the core of the gang leadership with him.” He hung his head for a moment. “And Verity. She went with him, too.”
“Wait, what? What did you say?” Jack leaned forward. “Verity’s dead?” Grief tightened his chest, then, to his surprise, red hot rage followed. “Well, what the fuck? She could have said goodbye, at least! Don’t tell me she couldn’t have, her of all people!”
Stunned silence greeted his outburst, and he looked around. To a person, their eyes were wide, and Piper’s mouth was hanging open. Adam reached out and grasped his shoulder, squeezing hard. “I know, right? I felt the same way. But here’s what I also know, thanks to her – I’ll get a chance to bitch her out for it one day.”
Jack nodded, gave Adam’s hand a brief squeeze, then stood and took a few minutes, gazing out the kitchen window while the conversation went on behind him. A few minutes later, Piper’s warm arms slid around his waist. “You okay?”
“No. I will be, but not right now.” He had to struggle to keep his throat from closing up. “To borrow one of your sayings, she made me bat-shit crazy, most of the time. I’ve never worked so hard to understand another person in my life, not even Layla.” His voice did break then. “I grew to love her. I’m so sad she’s gone.”
Piper squeezed her arms around his waist, and he lifted an arm around her shoulders to tuck her close to his chest. “Two swear words in a single day,” she said softly. “Who are you and what have you done with my husband? I’m sorry you’re hurting, love. What can I do?”
“Just keep breathing, sweetheart. That’s all.”
They rejoined the group, and Jack set his grief aside for the time being, listening with great interest as Grace and the boys described what they’d seen on their travels here. They had walked out of Colorado Springs, stopping in Limon for a few days, then walked on. Over and over, they’d tried to start one of the innumerable abandoned vehicles, but to no avail. Fuel left in vehicles was simply no longer usable. They passed through a few settlements where survivors had possessed the foresight, knowledge and necessary supplies to gather and stabilize fuel, but without any goods or skills to barter for that fuel, they were stuck walking.
“Eleven hundred miles, I figure, every damn step of it on foot. We walked every day, rain or shine, and I will tell you what – this girl here?” Adam nodded his head at Grace. “She is relentless. She walked us both into the ground. She wanted to get to Pewaukee before the snow flew, and we made it by the skin of our teeth.”
“We arrived at your folks’ house in mid-October,” Grace said. “We thought we’d winter over there, but then Tyler found the helicopter while he was out scouting. He said this clear spell of weather felt like it was going to last, and it was starting to get tense in Pewaukee, so we decided to go for it.”
“Tense, how?” Piper asked. “We met a small group of survivors there, a mom and her grown kids – were they still around?”
“They were when we first got there,” Adam said grimly. “Eva and her kids – geez, I can’t remember their names now. Then they just poofed. Disappeared like they’d never been there. We found what we think was the son’s body about a month later, but he’d been pretty thoroughly, uhm, eaten. So we had no way of knowing for sure.”
For the first time, Luc joined the conversation. “Eaten? By what?”
Grace answered. “Some kind of large coyote, we think. We only caught glimpses of them. We’ve got big coyotes in Colorado, but I’ve never seen any this size. They might have been wolves, but I don’t know anything about the wolf population in this part of the country. Gray wolves were making a comeback in the northern Rockies, up in Montana and in Yellowstone. Could they have spread this far east already?”
“They wouldn’t have to. The Fish and Wildlife Service has been monitoring comeback populations of the Eastern Grey Wolf in Michigan’s upper peninsula and Minnesota, and even a few hundred in northern Wisconsin.”
“Really? I would not have guessed that, in such a densely populated area.” Grace’s ears were practically perked; clearly, she sensed a fellow researcher. “Do you think they would already be taking over areas formerly inhabited by humans? The little I know of the wolves in the Rockies indicates they avoid human contact unless they’re starving – they’re very shy and wary.”
Luc leaned forward, vibrating with enthusiasm for his favorite subject when he wasn’t consumed by his search for Annalise: wildlife. “They could have been coy-wolves, a coyote-wolf hybrid. I’ve studied them extensively, and they’re amazingly adaptable animals. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a population explosion, given the sudden absence of humans. Unlike wolves, they’re not afraid to penetrate populated areas, and abandoned homes would make outstanding dens. Statistically speaking –”
Luc didn’t get to finish, interrupted by shouts and jeers from both Tyler and Adam.
“Oh my God! He did not just say that! He did not just say, ‘statistically speaking!’”
“Are you kiddin’ me? There are two of them? Un-freaking-believable!”
Laughter burst and bubbled around the room, warming them all, and Luc blushed. He kept sliding sideways glances at Grace, and Jack made a mental note to just keep an eye there. A little guidance, a little support, and a friendship could very well blossom. Given time, who knew what else?
Luc returned to the subject when the laughter died down, frowning at all three of the newcomers. “You don’t think wolves or coy-wolves preyed on this whole family, do you? Because in my opinion, that would be highly unlikely.”
“Oh, no, we know what – or should I say ‘who’ – the initial predator was. Somebody with opposable thumbs.” Adam popped himself in the middle of the forehead with his first two fingers. “Gunshot wound, close range. Burn marks on the skull, back half of his head totally gone. When we first talked to Eva and her kids, they’d been hearing rumors of people being kidnapped, or killed if they resisted, by groups of armed men from cities to the south – Chicago, primarily, but they’d also heard Indianapolis and Cleveland were best avoided. They had an in with a group in Milwaukee, and that group had learned to stay on the move. They didn’t settle anywhere permanently, so they were less likely to be captured. They lost all but two of their women and children last fall, Eva said.”
Piper looked at Luc. “I hope that wasn’t the group we met,” she said. Then, her eyes swung to Jack. “Do you think this information has anything to do with your nightmares?”
Jack grimaced, then nodded. “It strikes a chord, I have to admit.” His nightmares no longer featured Cass, thank God, but they’d kept right on coming. Invariably, when he caught a broader glimpse, the setting was urban. He knew the dreams were a type of premonition, but he suspected they were possibilities, rather than certainties. Or at least he prayed so, every single day of his life. He looked at Adam and Tyler. “Military groups?”
“Para-military, from what we’ve gathered, and often rag-tag.” Tyler blew out a deep breath. “We think they’re slavers, if you can believe that. All the indications point that way.”