“Mary, it’s time to spread the word to a few trusted people, get some folks to stake out the graveyard and try to catch whoever this is in the act. We need to get ready, to gather some kind of evidence to give the general,” Tara said.
Mary nodded, thinking. “Let’s ride out to Chester and Norma Heinrich’s farm tomorrow afternoon, tell them what’s going on. We can stop in at Luke’s mom’s place too, see if we can’t get a few recommendations from them all on who to trust and include in our little posse.”
“My bike’s still in the weeds over by Clyde’s Lee, so I’ll pull you over in the yard cart in the morning to sit with him, then Mary and I can ride bikes out to Heinrich’s. Let’s take a rope too, so I can tow you back home when we get back from Norma’s farm.”
“I’ll ride back to Clyde’s tonight and stay with him,” Mary offered.
Tara turned to her husband. “I’m going for the cream first thing in the morning too. No one will be around that place in daylight. I’ll take the gun.” Lee protested and groused; but Tara understood he knew her well enough to realize she simply wouldn’t stop once she got an idea. She watched him and saw his grudging acquiescence. She sighed in relief. “Clyde needs the stuff.”
“I’ll go with you Tara, after you drop Lee off,” Mary said, and Tara agreed.
They discussed options late into the night, and Tara finally felt they had plans in place to do something. It was better than feeling helpless. She saw Mary off in the dark, wobbling on her bike back to Clyde’s.
“Please be careful,” Tara called. Mary dropped her feet to the ground on each side of the bicycle and stopped, turning in her seat and patting her waist. At Tara’s puzzled expression, Mary lifted her jacket to show the glint of steel in the moonlight.
“And I ain’t afraid to use it,” Mary said.
Tara nodded, a cold chill coming over her. She watched her best friend swerving back and forth down the alley, a bad feeling heavy in her chest.
~
Bright and early the next morning, after a mostly sleepless night, Tara helped Lee into the trusty yard cart, a sturdy nylon rope coiled next to him.
“Have you got the gun?” he asked her. “Are you sure I’m not too heavy?”
“Hush, Lee, I pulled you all the way to the old factory in this! And yes, I have the gun.” Tara pulled up her shirt so he could see it in her waistband.
She struggled a little over the bumpy grass in their backyard, but once they hit the pavement on the alley behind their house, it was smooth sailing. Tara turned and gave him a wink and a laugh. Lee just frowned, bad leg stretched out and balanced on the crutch laid crossways on the cart in front of him.
She laughed even harder at his displeasure. “I think I like this. It feeds my fetish for total control.” This finally made him smile, and Tara was glad. She hated for him to be upset. Besides, there was nothing they could do about the situation except make the best of it.
“It’s going to be another beautiful day I think.” Tara walked at a snail’s pace, but the load wasn’t really heavy. The momentum once they got moving seemed to help push them along.
Soon they were at Clyde’s alley, and Lee began giving her instructions on what to do, things to watch for, and all manner of advice. She knew this arose from his fear for her, and was born out of his own sense of helplessness.
“Lee, stop. It will all be okay. We’re going to get the cream and come right back to Clyde’s before we head over to Norma’s. So you’ll know we made it just fine.”
Tara pulled the cart right up to Clyde’s door and helped Lee out, one hand under his arm to help him balance while he grabbed his crutch. Suddenly she noticed another bike alongside Mary’s. She inclined her head toward it. “Wonder who that is?”
They came into Clyde’s tidy kitchen just as Mary, mask in place, entered it from the other side. Tara heard Julie’s voice coming from the bedroom. “Julie’s here?”
Mary nodded her head, obviously not happy. “Yes, she insisted on coming. She also insists she’s going to see the graves with us.”
Tara frowned, but shrugged. “Well, I guess she’s an adult, not to mention a nurse, Mary. I can understand her wanting to know. I also understand you wanting to protect her and the baby. Bit of a dilemma there.”
Mary nodded at Lee and they exchanged hellos as he adjusted his crutch.
“Just tell yourself nothing’s going to happen. She’s already been exposed to us, and now to Clyde. And none of us are sick yet.”
With a glance at Lee’s leg, Mary asked how it was feeling.
“A little sore in one spot, but Tara changes the dressing often and uses alcohol on the incision. It’s almost healed.”
Mary motioned toward Clyde’s couch in the other room, and Lee obligingly hobbled over and turned the leg toward her. She deftly unwrapped the Ace bandage covering it and then the gauze underneath. Tara leaned in to look. One end of the incision was an angry-looking red, with a small amount of fluid seeping from it. Mary held the gauze to her nose and sniffed while Lee watched her, a puzzled expression on his face.
“Still the best way to check for infection Lee, and I think you have a small one brewing in there. When we find Clyde’s cream, I’m going to put a little on this too. It can’t hurt.”
“How’s Clyde doing?” Tara asked. Mary just shook her head sadly. Defeated, Tara’s shoulders slumped. She steeled herself to walk to his room as Mary fiddled with Lee’s bandage. Tara heard her tell him that Clyde’s triple antibiotic ointment would be better than nothing, followed by the sound of her heading to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to retrieve it. We’ve got to research natural antibiotics soon, before an infection kills one of us.
Tara knocked softly on Clyde’s door and pushed it open. Julie sat in a chair at his bedside, holding a cool wet washrag to his head. Gratitude flooded her, and a rush of love for Mary’s daughter choked her up for a moment. If Julie was any indication of the younger generation of survivor’s, Tara knew the world would be alright.
Julie heard the door open and turned. Tara saw her eyes crinkle in a smile behind her mask, and she walked to the young woman and patted her shoulder. “Your mom’s worried, you probably shouldn’t be here.”
“I know she is. But Tara, this affects me and Luke, and our unborn baby too. I want to know, I need to know. I’m not a child, although Mom would like to keep me one.”
“I know, honey. And I understand. I think you’re a strong young woman, and a great mother to Ben. Just be aware, watch your mask and gloves. You’ll be okay.”
Julie’s eyes crinkled again at Tara’s vote of confidence. Tara couldn’t help thinking that after all, Julie had showed her the ropes in the camp, kept herself and Ben alive for months, and survived Ebola in there to boot. She was more of a veteran of these new times than Tara or Mary.
Clyde was comatose, and Tara was glad. His suffering was more than she could bear. The old man’s face and upper body was a blotchy, seeping mass of sores now, and if he’d been awake, the pain would be unbearable. With a heavy sigh, Tara turned away and Julie followed her out of the bedroom.
In the living room, Mary had rewrapped Lee’s leg and was tying on his mask. He’d already put on gloves.
“We’ll stop in here before we leave for Norma and Chester’s. If Clyde wakes up, which I don’t think he will, try to get him to sip water. He’s very dehydrated, and that’s not good,” Mary explained.
Lee nodded, and looked at Tara. “Keep the gun handy. Use it if need be. If you think anything is off, get out. Quick.” His eyes were worried above the mask, and Tara knew it just about killed him to let her go into the danger that might lurk in the graveyard. She nodded at his instructions and stepped forward to hug him. Truth be told, she hated leaving Lee there just as much as he hated her going.
The women made their way out the rear door, stripping off masks and gloves at the garbage can out back. “Do you guys have extra’s?” Julie and Mary patted their pockets. Tara’s friends mounte
d their bikes as Tara began to walk alongside, hoisting her ever-present backpack.
“Hey, climb on my pegs, it’s faster if I ride you,” Julie said.
Tara giggled. “I haven’t done this since I was a kid!” She straddled the rear tire of Julie’s bike, carefully standing on the metal axels protruding on either side. Julie took off, catching up with Mary.
“Eeeee, don’t go too fast, Julie! I’d hate to survive all this just to be killed on a bicycle!”
They all laughed. Tara had always been grateful for her sense of humor. Even in the worst of times, it had soothed her more than once. Sometimes it was all you had.
As they passed the small house they had disinfected, they saw bicycles and carts full of clothes and items parked in the yard. Just then, Craig the camp guard, and Bethany, the quiet girl Julie knew, came outside. Julie waved and yelled. “Bethany, you’re moving in?”
The young woman smiled and nodded. She slipped an arm around Craig’s waist and he beamed at them.
“Congratulations!” Julie called, waving goodbye. As soon as they were out of earshot, Julie blew out a lungful of air. “Sheesh, that happened fast.”
“Yeah, I didn’t realize they were a couple,” Mary said.
“They weren’t,” Julie answered. “But hey, I’ve got a lot of room to talk. Luke and I happened quickly too. And Bethany needs someone strong. She’s so timid and scared all the time, poor thing.”
“Well I’m glad they got that house then, I know we cleaned it extremely well,” Tara added.
The trio made their way to the country road on the edge of town, and they each stared toward the big winery barn just past the last intersection. They could hardly wait for the upcoming party. It occupied a bright spot in the immediate future, something good to look forward to in an otherwise steaming heap of negativity.
As they drew close to the field and woods lining the bluff, Tara began to scan the area for movement. “Keep watch girls,” she whispered. “If you notice anything slightly off, we abort.”
But the sky was blue and full of fluffy clouds, and the smell of the tall field of weeds was thick and green in the morning sunlight. No one was around but them. They waded partway into the hip-high leafy stems, pushing their bikes while searching for Tara’s. It was just where she’d left it, and Mary and Julie laid their own bikes down alongside.
The women walked quickly to the trees, and Tara felt a little safer once they were out of the open. “Julie, we’ve got to climb this pile of trees,” Tara told her, starting over them.
“It looks like they were stacked here on purpose.”
“Yeah, I believe they were….”
Tara waited on the others to crawl over the deadfall, keeping watch through the woods out toward the road. Julie wore an apprehensive expression, having heard what was buried here.
“OK, let’s put masks on.” They dug in their pockets and slipped them on, following Tara over to the glossy green and white Trilliums blooming beside the graves. Tara wove among the unholy mounds, to the last one, where the poor woman had been buried alive. She saw a small object lying beside the grave. There’s the ointment. She reached for it first, and fear almost stopped her breath.
The cap was screwed off and lying a foot away from the tube, the cream inside squirted out in a white glob on the dirt. A large boot print sank into the soft soil on the tube, spreading out around it, instantly obvious someone had unscrewed the cap and deliberately stomped on it.
It’s a message.
Mary grabbed Tara’s arm. “It’s too late, he knows.”
Panic welled up inside Tara’s chest and she tried to think clearly. She slipped off one shoulder of her backpack and dug inside for the small notebook she kept there, ripping off the stiff cardboard cover. Quickly she knelt down scooping up as much as she could of the cream, then brushing out the scrape marks she’d made. She left the tube itself there on the ground. Maybe it would appear an animal had eaten the contents.
“Let’s go,” Tara said tersely. The looks on Julie and Mary’s faces told her all she needed to know. They were just as scared; the game had changed now. Julie placed one hand on her rounded belly, instinctively protecting the small life growing there.
With another rapid glance around, Tara led the way out. As she climbed the stack of dead trees, the feeling of being watched came over her. She truly hoped that feeling was wrong.
Chapter 8
Tara rode her bike back to Clyde’s quite fast, the others following close behind. She held the rectangle of cardboard covered with ointment carefully in front of her. Julie and Mary caught up as she parked and hurried inside. Lee met them in the kitchen, and Tara could tell something was wrong on his end too. He held a metal handle and the women stared at it, unsure exactly what it was. Lee caught sight of the cardboard and cream, and raised his eyebrows at Tara in an unspoken question.
“Someone stomped on the tube and squirted it all out. We could see the boot print. So we’re too late, whoever it is knows he’s been found out.”
Lee looked dejected as he laid the metal crank on the table. “Not much more promising news here. I tried to use Clyde’s radio. It broke.” Alarm seized Tara—the crank WW11 Gibson Girl radio was their only outside connection with the world, and now they couldn’t call Clyde’s grandson. She tried to calm down and think; besides, she didn’t want to make Lee feel bad.
“Can you fix it?”
Lee shook his head. “I honestly don’t think I can. I remember Clyde telling me he was trading something for a part with one of his Gibson Girl radio club buddies. The man lives in Minnesota and hoped to travel here to swap Clyde for something else. Clyde’s crank was almost broken, and I guess I pushed it a little too hard.” Lee appeared disgusted with himself.
No one said much. Tara sat down in a kitchen chair, and the others pulled out chairs and joined her. “Here’s the cream, Mary,” she said halfheartedly, sliding the cardboard across the table. “At least there’s a little to treat Clyde with.”
Tara sat, elbow on the table, hand on forehead, thinking. “Now we can’t contact Clyde’s grandson. We’ll have to wait for Melanie to return, she’ll be back Saturday for the party. Maybe she can get word to him.”
Lee agreed. “The white military vans run on diesel, which pretty much lasts forever.”
This perked Tara up. “Maybe Mel can get someone to drive her up there to find Clyde’s grandson. In the meantime, we may be able to get a small team together to keep watch and gather some info.”
Lee leaned over to give her a hug, and she felt a little more hopeful. She gave him a wan smile and turned to Mary. “Let’s go out to the Heinrich’s. See what they know and who they trust enough to join our little reconnaissance group.” Tara felt better just having some sort of plan. Action, even premature action, was better than doing nothing, to her. Doing nothing drove her totally crazy.
Mary headed into the bedroom to apply ointment to Clyde’s worst sores, and Tara drifted in, leaning against the doorway to watch. Clyde’s breathing was uneven. He’s not long for this world. Tara had almost accepted this was going to be Clyde’s last illness, but was glad he wasn’t awake and aware. Lee came up behind her, encircling her with one arm. She wanted to cry, but instead, she forced a smile and hugged him back. They looked into each other’s eyes, neither needing to say a word.
~
The long ride to the Heinrich’s gave Tara time to plan and discuss options with Mary. Julie had headed home to find Luke; she planned to take him to his mother’s house and coerce Jenny to help keep watch too. After all, she and her husband had been a member of the Resistance, and were well versed in those sorts of covert operations.
The sun was almost directly above in the sky by the time they left Clyde’s. It was going to be another beautiful day. The nearly three mile trek north to the Heinrich farm outside of town was an easy journey, with good paved road and no big hills.
As the women turned off the asphalt down the dirt lane and approache
d the old farmhouse, Tara saw a hen and a rooster scratching around in the front yard.
“Mary, look, they have chickens and goats.” Immediately it struck her—“Duh. I guess I knew that, how else would she have canned chicken?” Mary laughed, agreeing.
Norma was sitting on the porch swing as they rolled up to the house. She called to Chester and he came out the screen door. “Hello, girls!” he yelled, with a big smile on his face.
The old couple hugged them both, and Mary pulled the Tupperware full of flour she owed Norma from her backpack.
“Here you go, we’re even now.” She pointed at the chickens. “Tara was surprised to see those, she forgot all about the chicken we traded you for.”
“Well, those two are all we have left. We had quite a flock back when Ebola hit—and one by one, they were stolen. Finally, we started taking these two in the house with us every night. We still do in fact. We’ve got a few peeps now, and we’re hoping to build the flock again.”
Chester nodded sagely. “Yep, we’ve got to keep them and the goats inside, or soon we won’t have any.” He laughed. “It’s like the Beverly Hillbillies!”
Tara hadn’t worried as much recently over the roaming gangs of thugs. But apparently they still existed. “That’s a shame, Chester. You’re an easy target out here I guess.”
Chester nodded at the shotgun propped against the wall beside the door. “Last time, I gave a warning shot in the air, and they haven’t been back since. They nearly cleaned us out early on though. The only thing they didn’t get was these two chickens, the goats, and the beehive.”
“You keep bees?” Tara asked. Honey sounded delicious and definitely something she would trade for.
“Yes, we have a hive around back of the barn. Been considering moving it closer, but I don’t want to disturb the little critters,” Chester said.
“Honey is a natural antibiotic too,” Mary added, “I do remember that much from my old herbal healing books.” Tara perked up at this. Maybe we could use it medicinally, for Clyde.
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