“But how will you get over the fence?” Charlie persisted.
“And what if the fence is electrified? Then what?” Amy raised her eyebrows.
“Is it?” I asked Sharon. “Did Cash say anything about the fence?”
“It’s not electrified according to Cash.” Sharon’s tone sounded as worried as the others.
“So then we can cut our way through it.” I leaned back on the couch. “Surely, one of the houses on this street has bolt cutters.”
Ian took a deep breath, his exhale audible. “This sounds pretty dangerous, Meghan. Even if you breech the fence, you could still become lost on the prairie and freeze to death.”
“I have a GPS. Even if it’s a whiteout, I can follow that.”
“A GPS won’t keep you from freezing to death.” His brow furrowed heavily, his dimple nowhere to be seen.
“I already checked out the entryway hallway closet and the closet by the garage. There are plenty of winter coats and winter gear. There’s even a pair of sturdy winter boots that fit me reasonably well. I’ll be fine.”
Sharon crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “I don’t like this, Meghan. I want to get inside the reservation as much as you do, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”
I tried to hide my disappointment. “It’s fine. I don’t expect any of you to help.”
“I don’t think any of us are saying we won’t help.” The firelight shone on Amy’s face, dipping one side into shadows. “I’m just saying I think you should consider how wise this is.”
“I have, and I’m going.”
“You always were a stubborn, little thing.” Mitch smiled despite the tension in the room.
Ian’s gaze narrowed in Mitch’s direction. It was the first inkling I’d seen of Mitch’s feelings for me since our awkward conversation in the lab before I’d left for Seattle.
Trying to diffuse Ian’s curiosity, I stood. “Call me whatever you want. I’m breaking into Reservation 1 tonight, and I’d definitely appreciate some help if anyone’s willing.”
Charlie sighed heavily. Outside, the wind howled. “So if we decide to help you, what would we need to do?”
“Drive me as close to the fence as possible and pick me up when I get out. That’s it.”
Amy’s eyes bulged. “You’re going in there alone?”
“No, she’s not.” Ian cut in before I could reply. “I’ll go with her.”
DESPITE THE DARKENING sky outside, it was only late afternoon. Both Ian and I agreed that venturing anywhere near the rez before total darkness wasn’t a good idea. Consequently, the six of us spent the afternoon and early evening hunting through supplies in the house we squatted in and the other abandoned houses in the neighborhood.
We found a large bolt cutters in a garage two houses down, plenty of winter gear, several headlamps, an emergency blanket, old canned food, and firestarters to bring along. While rummaging in one garage, we also found a generator and several gallons of fuel. The generator started on the third try to everyone’s delight.
“Now, we can charge the cars and our cell phones!” Charlie seemed particularly happy about that one. Sharon did too. She’d been driving back and forth between the reservation and North Dakota to charge her vehicle.
I was in the midst of digging through a closet in a neighboring house when my own cell phone rang. I fished it out of my pocket and debated answering when I saw who was calling.
With a reluctant sigh, I tapped the green button. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, dear. I’m just calling to see how you are?”
It had been over two months since I’d spoken to my mother. For the most part, I preferred it that way. Growing up, my mother and I had never been close. She’d always kept Jeremy and me at arm’s length and seemed to prefer spending her time fostering a healthy community versus a healthy family.
“I’m fine.” I stopped rummaging through the closet and sat on the floor with my back against the wall. “How are you and Dad?”
“We’re doing fine. Your father’s away at the moment. He’s working at Compound 7 in Nevada.”
“Oh, right. I think I knew that.”
I didn’t know that, but my dad was always traveling for his job with Cantaleve Steel. Most times I had no idea where he was. Regardless, conversations with my mother were usually brief and superficial. I figured we’d talk for another minute or two and then hang up. I glanced at the time on my phone. 5:40 p.m. Still too early to leave, but our time was growing closer.
“…wondering about Christmas and what your plans are?”
I put the phone back to my ear. “What was that, Mom?”
“Your father and I were wondering what your plans are for Christmas? Are you coming home to Vermillion this year?”
I groaned inwardly. I hated the holidays. They always involved me, my parents, and a few tense and awkward days. They also brought back painful memories of Jeremy. Growing up, the only reason I’d enjoyed the holidays was because of my brother and his childhood excitement. Now, his vacant seat at the table was only a reminder that I’d never see him again.
“I don’t know. I’m really busy with work right now.”
“That was something else I wanted to ask you. I called the Compound the other day, and they said you’d gone to Seattle again? When did that happen?”
I smacked my hand to my forehead. When I’d been exposed to Makanza over the summer, I hadn’t told my parents. And since finding that out, my mother now periodically called Compound 26 to check up on me. It was mortifying, like I was being monitored by the school principal, but she said she just wanted to make sure I was okay.
I didn’t know what to think about that.
With slumping shoulders, I summed up as best I could my time in Seattle. “I was helping Cate… um, I mean Dr. Hutchinson, but I’m back in South Dakota now. My time out there is done.”
“Oh, well perhaps we could meet this week for dinner?”
Dinner? My mother and I never went out for dinner.
Ian appeared at the end of the hall. He raised his eyebrows when he saw me on the phone.
“Um, I can’t this week, Mom. I’m quite busy. Sorry.”
“Of course. Well, I suppose I should go. I hope work goes well.”
“Yeah, thanks. Bye.”
I closed my eyes after we hung up and pinched my nose. I had no idea what had gotten into my mother. Our roles had been so clearly defined for years, and now it was like those roles had wavered. It strangely seemed like she wanted to spend time with me.
Growing up, she’d never wanted to.
I took a deep breath. I don’t have time to think about this right now.
When I opened my eyes, Ian stood closer and was looking down at me with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Everything okay?”
I forced a nod. A part of me felt so alone in this world without Jeremy as a buffer between me and my parents. Even though they were the only blood relations I had left, never had two people felt more like strangers.
Pushing to a stand, I brushed my pants off. A thick layer of dust coated the hallway carpet. “It was just my mom.”
He didn’t say anything. I got the distinct impression he was waiting for me to continue, but I didn’t feel like divulging any information on that subject. Stuffing my phone in my back jean pocket, I curled my toes in my shoes. “Do we have everything we need for tonight?”
“I think so.”
“Good, then let’s figure out how we’re getting to the reservation.”
SHARON TEXTED CASH and asked where the best area was to approach the fence. She didn’t mention that we planned to break-in.
Cash sent several text messages with maps and directions for how to reach an area by the northeast portion of Reservation 1. He said the watch towers there were spaced farthest apart. Several blind spots in that area also made it hard for the guards to see.
Outside, the storm grew. Already, the streets were slippery even though only an inch of snow lay on t
he ground. If Mitch hadn’t driven his SUV, I was pretty sure we wouldn’t have made it over the bridge.
“This is a really bad idea, Meg.” Amy peered into the darkness out her window. “Like a super bad idea and quite possibly the worst idea anyone’s come up with this year.”
I sat beside her, bundled in snow pants, a thick winter jacket, a scarf, hat, mittens, and ski goggles. Apparently, the former residents in one home had been avid skiers. We’d had a dozen goggles to choose from.
“I’ll be fine. Trust me, with how warm I’m feeling, I’ll most definitely not freeze to death.”
Ian wore similar gear. He sat in the front beside Mitch. Charlie and Sharon occupied the seats in the very back. The tension that oozed from everybody made my head spin.
Ahead of us, a dark mound rose in the night. Mitch slowed the vehicle and assessed the road. “We need to crest that hill. It’ll be hard with how slippery it is.”
Various dirt roads crisscrossed around the reservation. So far, we’d driven about a mile down one. Cash told us these roads had been made during the fences’ resurrection. They’d also been used by the heavy machinery that installed the wind turbines. In other words, they were no longer used so weren’t maintained.
“Here goes nothing.” Mitch gunned the accelerator, and the tires spun.
The road was muddy under the snow. The tires spun wildly as Mitch tried to force the vehicle up the steep hill. We were about halfway up when we began sliding backward.
“Oh crap!” Charlie grabbed the handle above him attached to the ceiling.
Sharon squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
We slid all the way to the bottom of the hill, the brakes pumping rhythmically as Mitch applied them. When we rolled to a stop, I was relieved that we were still on the road and not in the ditch.
Amy’s face paled, and her green eyes grew wide. “What was I saying about stupidest idea this year? Make that the stupidest idea this decade.”
“Do you think we can make it up this hill, or should we walk from here?” I leaned forward.
Snow danced in front of the windshield. A blizzard was definitely forming.
“I’ll give it another try.” Mitch reversed and backed the SUV up.
Ian turned in the front seat to see me better. “Meghan, if we can’t climb this hill and get closer to the fence, we’ll have to abandon this plan. I know you want to find your friends, but we’re still twelve miles from the perimeter and then another three miles to town. That’s too far. We can’t walk that kind of distance in this weather.”
A sharp reply almost rolled off my tongue. I didn’t want to wait for another opportunity. It was possible another one would never come, but I kept my mouth shut as my brain kicked in.
Ian was right. We couldn’t walk that far. Even if the blizzard didn’t kill us, the amount of time it would take to walk that distance in, find the Kazzies, and then walk that distance out… It would take too long. It simply wasn’t practical.
“Then let’s hope we get up this hill.” My shoulders tensed as Mitch gunned the vehicle again.
The tires spun wildly, but we didn’t move.
Charlie groaned. “We’re stuck!”
Amy unclicked her seatbelt. “Okay. This is where we all get out and push.”
Before any of us could respond, she opened her door and was out of the vehicle. Fierce wind blew into the cab. Ian cocked his head. “She’s right. Let’s go.”
The four of us clambered out of the SUV and joined Amy in the biting cold. Snow flew everywhere.
Lining up behind the tailgate, the five of us placed our hands against it.
“On the count of three!” Amy yelled.
We stood shoulder to shoulder. Sharon’s auburn hair whipped in the wind from under her cap.
“One! Two! Three!” Amy yelled.
Mitch gunned the engine as we all dug our feet into the ground and pushed. With a spin of tires, the SUV slowly moved forward.
After pushing, cursing, grunting, and some more cursing, we managed to push the SUV up the hill inch by inch. When we finally crested it, Sharon slumped against the back and eyed the dark sky. I could tell she was concerned about the growing storm.
I squeezed her hand.
With worried-looking eyes, she just nodded.
Splattered with snow and mud, all of us piled back inside. Leaning forward, I nudged Mitch. “How does the road look ahead?”
“Not much better than the road behind us,” he said grimly.
“Can we keep moving?” I lifted my goggles higher on my forehead. “The road will only become more slippery. I’m worried about you all getting back.”
“You have a point. If we all freeze to death in a ditch out here, Meghan, I’m never going to forgive you.” Charlie rubbed his hands together and blew his breath onto them. The temperature had dropped even more.
I grimaced. “You know what? You’re right. It’s not fair to keep moving forward unless everyone is okay with it. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”
“It’s okay, really. I was mostly kidding.” Charlie patted my shoulder from behind. “But seriously, I’m never talking to you again if I die.”
I swung around to see Sharon better. “Are you okay with this? And Amy?” I met my co-worker’s gaze.
“Keep driving, Mitchy.” Amy tightened her seatbelt. “We didn’t just push our way up this hill for nothing.”
“I agree.” Sharon added. “I’d like to know about Davin. Besides, if we get stuck out here, we can all walk to Cash’s farm. With any luck, we could sneak into the barn and spend the night without his parents being any the wiser.”
Sharon’s words took me completely by surprise. Cash was a teenager. We were six adults. It didn’t seem entirely ethical to be asking him for that kind of help. But then I saw the burning desperation in her eyes. She needed to know what was happening to Davin as much as I did.
I leaned back in my seat. “Okay. Keep driving, Mitch.”
IT TOOK ANOTHER thirty minutes of navigating carefully on the slippery, muddy road to reach the area that Cash described. The land here was filled with dips and valleys.
The distant perimeter fence wasn’t visible through the falling snow, which meant we couldn’t see the watch towers when Mitch stopped. We hoped that meant the guards couldn’t see us either.
“Remind me again that we won’t regret this.” Amy squeezed my hand.
Her hand felt tiny in my bulky mittens. I squeezed her as reassuringly as I could. “We’ll be fine.”
We made plans to reconvene in four hours. It was agreed with the snow coming down like it was that Mitch, Charlie, Amy, and Sharon wouldn’t wait for us here. In the open prairie, it would only increase the chances of them becoming stranded.
“Does anyone know how much snow is forecasted?” Charlie checked his cell phone again. A few radar apps had recently become available. With the country’s economy slowly churning, more and more things like that were emerging, but those apps weren’t reliable. Sometimes they didn’t work at all.
“Any news?” Amy peered over his shoulder.
Charlie muttered a sound of disgust as wind rocked the vehicle. “Nope. Still not working.”
“Text us when you’re in. We’ll keep an eye on your location.” Amy also pulled out her phone.
We’d all shared our info so we could track each other. It was the best we could do with the limited technology we had.
“I’ll let you know right away if a pickup isn’t possible.” Mitch leaned forward to peer out the windshield. “With how it’s looking, I’m guessing we won’t make it back, but we’ll try.”
Sharon grabbed my hand. “Do you have Cash’s house programmed into your GPS in case we can’t return?”
“Yes.”
Ian also held up his phone. “I’ve got it too. If you can’t drive back, we’ll go there.”
I bit my lip. All of my friends seemed tensed and worried about scheduling our pickup.
I sighed. “Let’s ju
st change our plans right now. I don’t want any of you getting stuck out here.” I glanced at Ian to see if he was going to object, but he just watched me so I continued. “Ian and I are as prepared as we can be regarding the incoming weather. It’s only half a mile to the fence and then another three miles to town. We’ll hike to town, try to find Davin and everyone else, and regardless of whether or not we succeed, we’ll plan on retreating to Cash’s house for the night. We can meet up tomorrow or the next day. Whatever the weather allows.”
Amy bit her fingernails. “Are you sure you can make it that far?”
I checked Ian’s and my backpacks to insure we had everything we needed to survive the next few days. “Yes. It’s only another mile north of here to Cash’s farm. It’s a lot of walking, but Ian and I are both in good shape. We’ll make it.”
There was a lot of truth to that. I ran regularly. Running five to ten miles at a time was my usual routine. Ian also worked out, and both of us were young and healthy. We’d make it regardless of the snow.
“Are you sure Cash is okay with us coming to his house if need be?” I unzipped the top of my jacket. It was getting so warm.
Sharon nodded. “I just texted him, and he replied immediately. He said he’ll open the back barn door a crack and will leave a light on. He said to sneak in on the south side. Blankets and pillows will be waiting.”
“Sleeping in a barn during a blizzard.” Mitch shook his head. “Meghan, you’re nuts.”
“Back to the camping aversion?” Amy tried to joke, but it fell flat.
Mitch frowned heavily. I could tell he was worried.
I zipped my jacket back up and reached for the door handle. “Okay, Ian. Are you ready?”
Ian put his goggles on. Between that and his scarf, all of the skin on his face was entirely covered. “Let’s go.”
“Bye, guys. Drive safely back to Mobridge.” I hugged Sharon awkwardly over the seat, simply because I knew she’d want me too.
When we stepped out of the vehicle, cold winter wind swept across the prairie. It was beautiful in a deathly, alienating sort of way.
Amy’s teeth chattered as the wind whipped into the cab. “I have a feeling we won’t see you until the day after tomorrow, so whatever you do, stay safe, and stay alive.
Section 12: Book #3 in The Makanza Series Page 11