Red Death (Book 2): Survivors

by Robinson, D. L.

  Something was moving there. She crouched, waving the others down behind her. They all waited, watching. The form was walking slowly along the fence—it looked like they were on the outside, not inside the compound. Tara, Jake and Mary were nearly directly across from them. And then they were gone.

  Who would be back there at this time of night? No one should be walking there, especially at this late hour. It’s them. And we can’t do a thing about it yet either, Tara stage-whispered. They waited helplessly, Tara fuming with total frustration. Jake wanted to go after them anyway, but Tara and Mary insisted they needed more firepower and the guards, who were more experienced than two middle-aged women and a teenager. Cooler heads prevailed, and the group resumed their stealthy trip up the hill to their bikes. Mary headed off to Julie’s to tell Luke what had happened, and Tara pedaled along with Jake until they reached the winery road where he veered off. But before he did, he whispered to Tara, “I can’t stand being in the building now. Even if they’re not around, I can’t bear it.”

  “Jake, I know, but you have to be a good actor. It’s so important, to all of us.”

  Jake nodded and gave her a small smile.

  I hope he doesn’t give us away. Tara worried all the way home, then stayed up late telling Lee everything. He showed Tara how he could now walk a little without his crutch, and even thought he could maybe go along on the raid the following night.

  “No, Lee, it’s too soon, and we need you to stay with Julie and Ben, he’s still too much for her to handle. Besides, we really need to take Luke, and I don’t mean that to be disrespectful either.” Lee moped for a minute, then admitted he wasn’t quite ready yet for anything physical.

  They turned in, Tara still worrying about the raid, and Lee held her until she fell asleep.

  Chapter 15

  Tara and Mary decided to go ahead with their plans to harvest more strawberries, and got an early start to the pick-your-own fields the next morning. With so many things to discuss, the trip seemed to take half the time it did before, and they were in view of the white barn on the hill before they knew it.

  “I can’t shake the look on Jake’s face when we scraped away the dirt from his dog’s leg. Honestly, I’ve been kicking myself ever since for even taking him there. We should have insisted he didn’t need to see it, that describing it to him was enough.”

  “He loved that dog like we love our kids. I understand that part,” Mary said. “Whoever did this has made one more mortal enemy, that’s for sure.”

  Tara shook her head slowly, full of a mixture of self-loathing and shame at exposing Jake to the graveyard. Somehow she felt responsible for the death of his innocence.

  “I guess I wanted to protect him from that, yet I also know he’s an adult and needs to know. It’s just…” Tara drifted off, unable to put the feeling into words. Finally she did. “No one wins. It’s so ugly, such a waste.” Tara felt sick inside just thinking about it and the impact it had on Jake.

  “I know, Tara. Don’t fret about it. It was hard but he’ll be a better man for it in the end. Not to mention an implacable enemy to whomever is responsible, and we need that.”

  Tara nodded, trying to push aside the thoughts and feelings to focus on getting today’s job done. They pulled alongside the big field and Tara carefully straddled her bike and attached yard cart between the rows so as not to smash the fruit. She and Mary began working, both complaining their backs were still sore from the last strawberry harvest.

  The women talked about the plan to break into the last barracks that night, each commenting on Jake’s insistence to go directly there the moment they’d seen someone behind the fence. His hotheadedness was to be expected; he was young and outraged at the sight of the grave they had just come from. But after explaining the necessity of planning and striking with precision at a time when they had the best chance of actually finding the perpetrator, he got it. Yes, they all believed it was Brenner, Morgan or both, but there was enough doubt about Meyers’s role to make them hesitate. Finally, Jake had calmed down and agreed on the wisdom of their plan.

  Mary moved away, down to the far end of the next row, and they worked in silence for a while. Tara heard Mary say something about a smell, and she half-rose from her own row.

  “What?”

  “It smells like cucumbers over here, really weird!”

  “Cucumbers? It smells like strawberries over here,” laughed Tara. Suddenly, it struck her. “Mary get out of there, quick!” Tara yelled.

  Mary looked startled, followed immediately by her yelling, “Ow!”

  “Oh no!” Tara cried, running over. Mary hopped several rows then reached down to touch her leg above the ankle.

  Tara panicked, she thought she knew just what had happened. Her grandma had a small garden patch at their farm and one day she’d been picking some beans and smelled cucumbers. She hadn’t planted any, so it was particularly strange. Immediately afterward, she felt a sharp pain in her leg—she’d been bitten by a copperhead snake. Later, she found out that when copperheads were lying in wait for prey, if they were touched or frightened, the vipers released a musk that smelled like cucumbers.

  “Mary!” Tara glanced at her leg and could see the two puncture marks. “You’ve been bitten by a copperhead!” Mary’s face turned pale. She sat down on the bank beside the rows of plants. “Am I going to die? I feel a bit faint all of a sudden.” Tara squeezed out as much blood and liquid as she could, and by that time, Mary was obviously feeling the effects of the venom.

  “My grandma was bit by one once, and she was a tiny woman, like a hundred pounds. It made her pretty sick but didn’t kill her. It can give you a nasty looking bite area though. You’re a lot bigger than my grandma, so hopefully it won’t make you too sick.” Tara mostly said all this to reassure Mary, but she honestly was too young when her grandmother suffered the snakebite to remember how sick she was. Mary suddenly lay back on the grass.

  “My foot feels like it’s on fire,” Mary groaned.

  Tara nearly panicked. “Let’s get you home. Now.”

  She ran for her bike, pulling Mary into the cart, and steering it down the rows onto the pavement. “Are you okay, Mary?” Mary moaned out a yes, and Tara pedaled as fast as she could, asking her the same question every few minutes.

  “I don’t know how to treat this, do you?” Tara looked back and saw Mary had her foot propped on the edge of the cart. It was swelling and turning red near the fang marks.

  “Keep the limb higher than the heart, charcoal powder if we have it, large doses of Echinacea. That’s what the Indians used.”

  Tara was worried. Mary wasn’t very responsive after the initial instructions. The four miles home took forever. She ran into the house for Lee’s help, and they somehow got Mary inside. She was drowsy and seemed to have a little trouble breathing. Tara followed her instructions and propped her leg on the end of the sofa, bringing her the Cone Flower roots they used in the antibiotic tea. “What else should I do?”

  “Go ask Melanie,” Mary whispered.

  Just then there was a knock at the front door. Tara ran to answer it while Lee tried to talk to Mary. Jake stood there, the van idling out front. “Jake! Mary got bitten by a copperhead, I just got her home! Can you take me to Melanie?”

  “Sure,” Jake told her.

  “Lee, I’ll be right back,” Tara called. They jumped in the van and headed to the camp.

  “I was on a wine delivery,” Jake told her, motioning toward the rear of the van. Tara looked back and saw cases of wine packed in to the roof. “I was headed out to the old stone quarry to smash them all.”

  Tara nodded, unable to focus on much besides Mary. “Jake, can you go to the Strausville strawberry fields and pick up Mary’s bike too?” Tara gave him directions and he promised to do so.

  “Don’t worry Tara, I knew a guy who got bit and he was in a lot of pain for eight days or so. It swelled up a lot, and a little of the skin around it scarred, but he was okay. Depending on
how much venom she got and how old the snake was—the younger the snake, the more vicious the bite—she’ll survive it.”

  “Oh thank God! I saw the fang marks, they’re fairly wide apart so it was an older snake I’d say, not a baby.”

  “I guess Mary isn’t going to be on our team tonight.”

  Tara hated to lose her friend and comrade on the raid. Mary gave her strength and courage somehow, and she guessed the feeling was mutual. The best types of friends always seemed to do that for each other in Tara’s opinion. Somehow she would have to get by without her.

  Jake waited in the van while Tara spoke to Melanie in her office. She learned there wasn’t much they could do but wait it out; it would be a couple weeks of pain and crutches. The antibiotic tea, full of Echinacea, was Melanie’s suggestion. Maybe poultice a bit of the dried, ground Echinacea root on the bite too. Mary needed rest, to elevate the leg, and Tara was supposed to bring her to the camp if it got any worse.

  Jake dropped Tara back off at her home and went to get Mary’s bike. Lee was sitting in the room with Mary, watching her carefully. Mary was resting comfortably, her leg having swelled considerably. She glanced mournfully at Tara. “Can you believe this? I mean, really.”

  Tara gave her one of Lee’s left over pain pills with some antibiotic tea to wash it down, and Mary drifted off. They soon heard Jake’s van return, and he unloaded the bike on the front porch. Tara could see the van was now empty of cases. He’d dumped the tainted wine.

  “They think I’ll be gone all night doing deliveries. That alone should guarantee they’re active. I think tonight is our best chance to catch them at something,” Jake told her.

  “That’s a good point, and I hope you’re right. I’ll see you at dusk in the Kmart parking lot. You can use Mary’s gun.”

  Their eyes met and Tara could see the fear in Jake’s. She wondered if he could see the same in hers as well.

  ~

  Tara’s Diary

  June 20, 2016

  Why does it always seem like I have to make an entry in this diary because it feels like the last one I might make? This sounds so dramatic, but it’s true.

  Tonight we’ve planned a break-in at the last barracks. On the way home from the meeting last night when we decided this, we saw someone messing around in there. So I know there’s something going on, and that the last barracks still has something to do with all this.

  Julie is doing better, and I honestly believe Clyde would have healed too if not for, well, no sense even going there.

  Brenner and Morgan think Jake is gone tonight, so I expect them to be up to something. And we’re going to catch them red handed this time. And Mary can’t go—she’s in pain from a damn snakebite—I swear to God we can’t catch a break! She says to give ‘em hell for her and that’s the plan. If I don’t make it back…it’s been real…real shitty, that is.

  I just re-read this. Sorry I sound so jaded. I’ve pretty much had it, to be honest. If we do find them there in the last barracks as I believe we will, it’s a no-mercy vote from me. Stare into the abyss, become the abyss. I’m saying a prayer now to make up for that…

  ~

  Meyers stood listening to the colonel, hoping he had assumed a suitably deferential expression.

  He was tired of the killing, tired of kissing a nutbag’s ass, just plain tired. His mind darted around, trying to find a way out. There was none.

  He listened as the colonel laid out his next orders, how he wanted Meyers to handle this phase of his plan. Meyer’s wasn’t really paying attention, but a phrase caught his attention and he focused back in. What did he say? Something about the wine?

  The colonel stroked the wine barrels lovingly and it was all Meyers could do to keep from rolling his eyes. He let his mind drift back again to that first day he’d met the colonel and heard his proposition. Once the colonel had thrown open the hatch and shown him inside, it was a no-brainer, Meyers was in.

  Meyers came back to the present suddenly realizing what the colonel was talking about. This crazy bastard has poisoned the wine. What good is all the money in the world if there’s no one left?

  Meyers immediately decided he had fulfilled his debt to the colonel.

  ~

  Mary was awake and not in too much pain as Tara readied herself to leave on the raid. She sat on the edge of the sofa, and took Mary’s hand. “Mary, we’ve got a dilemma, we need Luke’s experience to do this raid tonight, but now both you and Julie are sick. Lee can either stay here with you or go sit with Julie and watch Ben. Those are our options.”

  “No question, Tara, I’m going to be fine. Julie needs him more than I do. I’m in pain, but it’s gone down some since you gave me the pill.”

  Tara gently unwrapped the Echinacea poultice from the fang marks. Her ankle was huge, swollen like a tube, and turning a bright red. Tara made a face as Lee limped into the room to see. “God, that looks awful,” Tara blurted before she could stop herself.

  “Oh, nice, thanks,” Mary groused. They both laughed at themselves, and Tara squeezed her hand. “Okay, say a prayer for us all. Oh, I need your gun for Jake.”

  Mary pulled it out of her waistband where it was still tucked and handed it to Lee. Tara pushed the coffee table closer, checked that Mary’s water glass was full, and poured her more of the antibiotic tea.

  “Now, drink this, Mary,” Tara scolded her, handing the gun over to Lee. Mary nodded, settling back into the cushions.

  “Please be careful,” Mary told her. “Don’t be a hero, you’re too old for that.”

  Lee agreed as Tara chuckled. “Look who’s calling who old,” she joked. The two friends smiled at each other, and Tara hated leaving her there. With a wave, she and Lee headed to the backyard where her bike was parked. The attached cart was still half filled with strawberries, which Tara had completely forgotten about. They scooped them out and Tara put them in a box on the back porch to deal with later. Hopefully the squirrels wouldn’t get them before they got back. It was an hour until dusk when they started off down the road to Clyde’s old house, Julie and Luke’s new house.

  “Tell me again how you’re planning on doing this,” Lee asked her.

  “We’re meeting in front so as to not be within sight of the barracks. Luke and I will stay as unobtrusive as possible when we go down the hill to the camp. Besides, we could simply be going to a class or whatever, so it shouldn’t arouse suspicion anyway. Most of the others come in from the front, so that keeps them hidden from view too. I think the best idea is to surround the place outside the back gate, as well as from inside the camp.”

  “That doesn’t leave much wiggle-room for whoever is on the rear side to protect themselves. If there are more than one of them, and they have guns…” Lee drifted off.

  Tara nodded, looking back over her shoulder to where Lee reclined in the yard cart behind her. “I know.”

  “Mary’s right, don’t be a hero, let the young men do this, Tara. I don’t want to lose you. I’d never forgive myself for not being there.”

  “Lee, it’s okay. They’ve got it all worked out. Chester and Dave will be with us women on the inside, the front of the barracks. We’re pretty sure the bad guys will try to use the hidden back gate. And when they do, Craig, Luke, and Jake will have them.”

  Lee fretted the entire way about the plan, bringing up every single contingency and possibility of failure. Finally, Tara told him to stop, that it had to be done and he wasn’t helping any. Lee apologized just as they arrived at Clyde’s house.

  Tara helped her husband out of the cart and he pulled her close, first thing. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I know how you are. For such a little thing, you’re fearless. It’s one of the qualities I’ve always loved in you. I don’t want you taking charge like you tend to do and getting yourself killed.”

  Tara snuggled a moment in his arms. She truly loved this man, and he was right. She tended to act first, think later. She knew he would be lost without her, but she didn’t plan to get
herself killed. Tara decided she would promise him to hold back and let the young men handle the rough stuff.

  Somewhat reassured, Lee let her go and limped into Clyde’s kitchen with her. “You barely need that crutch now,” Tara told him on the way up the steps.

  “Quit trying to change the subject,” he scowled at her. Tara laughed. He sure knows me well.

  Luke met them inside, Ben slamming into Tara’s legs a moment after, like a tiny tornado.

  “Whoa, big guy! Take it easy!” Tara knelt and kissed his forehead. “How’s your mommy?

  “She’s better! Today, she laughed when I told her a joke.”

  Good news indeed. Tara went into the bedroom where Julie lay, trying not to remember Clyde’s last night in that same spot. Tara said hello and leaned in to look at Julie closely. The sores on her face were healing; the fibers seemed broken and fragmented under the skin, as though they were disintegrating. She had a bad sunburn now for sure.

  “The burn hurts worse than the sores,” Julie said. “I’m weak, but I can tell I’m better, Tara. Thank you so much.”

  Tara’s heart lurched at the news. She’s really going to make it.

  Julie reached out and grabbed her arm. “Please be careful. Please make sure Luke is as safe as he can be, for me?”

  Tara knew she couldn’t really promise this, but did anyway. “I will, and Lee isn’t too happy about this either. But we’re all there is. Sometimes you’ve just got to step up. You know you’d be going too if you were well, so would Lee.”

  Julie agreed with that and Tara told her she’d see her later. “Maybe when I get back, this will all be over and we can finally be safe. It’s time to get on with our lives.” Tara smiled at the young woman and patted her big belly under the covers and Julie grinned back, seemingly filled now with hope.

  Luke came in and told Julie goodbye, hugging Ben, as Lee cautioned Tara one last time. Finally, she and Luke left by the back kitchen door. Tara unhooked the bike cart, Luke climbed on the pegs, and they headed to the field above the river.