The Dead Familiar (Winterhaven Series)

by J. D. Mckenna

  After posing his unexpected question, Jack looked around intently, studying faces. He wondered if someone would rise up, try and take his place. He wondered if he even cared. It would be so easy to pass the burden on to another, he would even welcome it. For a few brief moments, silence reigned and Jack waited. Then, from the back of the room, Elizabeth Fel’s clear voice rang out.

  “Jack, you are our leader. You saved us, you brought us here. It was you who built this place, even while we lived in ignorance. If you are not our leader, then who can be?” she asked. Jack nodded to her, acknowledging her words. He then shifted his gaze to his little brother.

  “Sam, what about you and your friends? Can they accept this?” Jack asked.

  Sam turned to look at those he had brought with him. They were tired. Some had been crying, some simply stared grimly about them in shock. As beaten as they were, they still looked to him, nodding their acceptance.

  Dane stepped forwards to Sam. He looked at Jack standing on the dais, dirtied by war, heavy bags beneath his eyes. He saw the resignation behind the man’s eyes. To his eye, this wasn’t a power-hungry despot; it was a man, desperately wishing there was someone else, but willing to do what he must.

  He doesn’t want this, but that’s what makes him so suited for it. He doesn’t seek power, and will be less easily corrupted by it. God forgive us for forcing the burden to him, but we must in order to survive. Decided, Dane clapped Sam on the shoulder and nodded as well.

  WIth his friend’s acceptance, Sam turned to his older brother and spoke, “We will follow you Jack. We trust you.”

  A quick nod from the construction crew told him everything he needed to know. He had already spoken to the men and women of Bear’s bus earlier, so with Sam’s acceptance, Jack felt the weight of their expectations settle around his shoulders. He knew that it would be far more difficult than even he could yet imagine to lead these disparate people, but he would do his best.

  I just hope my best is enough. If I fail these people. I will never forgive myself.

  Jack spoke softly, “Thank you for your trust everyone. I would like to formally welcome you home. We call this place Winterhaven. I’ve done more speaking then I’m comfortable with already, so lets move towards getting settled. I need to see Sam, Bear, and someone who was working construction right away. Also, has anyone seen Jessica Riel? She is...was Gary’s assistant, and I need her as well.” he requested.

  One of the men from the construction crews hurried off further into the keep to get Jessica. Noting that, Jack continued, “Everyone else please give us a second. I need to make some arrangements before we can get you assigned to some rooms for some much deserved rest.”

  Jack hopped off the dais, walking to the right of the fireplace and into a hallway off the Main Hall to wait. Sam and Bear reached him first, followed quickly by a third man. Extending his hand, Jack waited for the man to introduce himself.

  “Shaun Brodinger. Foreman. How can I help sir?” the man asked politely.

  “I need to know the status of Winterhaven. I noticed the torches when I came in, does this mean that we don’t have electricity?” Jack asked.

  “No, Winterhaven’s fully operational. Construction is finished but we were just laying some cable and doing some finishing touches when everything went down. We haven’t brought the power online is all. We’ll need to initiate the wind turbines out back, and flip the switch but the grid is set. The solar batteries are fully charged and we’ve got a good supply for the steam generator as well if it comes to that.” Shaun answered.

  “Ok, good. Leave the turbines for now, I don’t want anyone going out past the walls until we’ve had a chance to secure the surroundings. Get the power online with the solar batteries though. Electricity and running water will go a long way towards helping these people feel more comfortable.” Jack finished giving orders just as Jessica Riel walked up.

  She was a beautiful brunette. Tall and slim, with a moderate bust. She had vaguely elfin features courtesy of her bohemian ancestry, striking in their uniqueness. Red-rimmed eyes were evidence of sorrow, but her set jaw showed that she had her emotions in check, at least for the moment. Jack gave a nod to Shaun and he moved off to enact Jack’s orders.

  He turned to face the young woman. “Hello Miss Riel, how are you holding up?” Jack asked sympathetically.

  “I’m fine, it’s a hard day, but it’s certainly worse out there. I’m sorry about not being here right when you arrived. Gary’s death....was difficult for me to deal with. I’ve been trying to collect myself. I’ve also been tracking the news, or what’s still coming in anyways. It’s not looking good sir.” Jessica sniffed quietly, still visibly shaken.

  “I’ll want to know what you’ve heard, but later. For now, I need your help. I know the basic outline of Winterhaven, but I haven’t actually been here before. How are we situated on our stores? I’ll also need your help assigning rooms and getting everyone settled.” Aware that Jessica had also just suffered loss, he softened his tone somewhat.

  “Are you up too it?” he asked.

  “I’ll be fine. Having something to do will help. As to your questions, we’re about halfway stocked. The last load of supplies was enroute when everything went to hell, so we are not at maximum for our food supplies but we are close. We have all of our ammunition and firearms, and about 75% of the food stores that we had planned for. It should be enough, though we will have to ration somewhat to maintain our planned for five years of independence. Clothing: we got all of the uniforms and utility gear, but we never got around to shopping for other civilian clothing, so it’s gonna have to be whatever people brought for now.” she said.

  Jessica pulled out a notebook from her back pocket, flipping to find the rest of her notes. Jack was impressed that she had retained the foresight to prepare an inventory for his perusal before coming to meet him. It was a welcome sign for the new leader of a new community.

  Jessica continued, “As for WInterhaven itself, construction on the underground storage and Keep were first, so we’ve had a chance to furnish all the rooms. The west hallway leads to the quarters. We built a mixture of small apartments for families and barack space for singles. I’ll need a list of the people here to properly assign spaces, but the room is more than sufficient, if a bit less lavish than some of them may be used to.” she said.

  Jack considered the situation. He motioned to Sam and Bear, who had been waiting expectantly.

  “I need you to go get a list of everyone here. Have Duke help you, he’s good with statistics. I need to know how many people are here with families as well as a count of single men and women. Include ages for the people as well.” he said.

  As the two men moved off, another idea hit Jack, ”Hold up, find out what everyone’s occupation was before all of this as well. It’ll be helpful to know how everyone may be able to contribute down the road. Ok, thanks guys. Go to and get that back to me as quickly as possible.” he ordered. Sam and Bear leaving him alone with Jessica.

  “Ok. I know some of what Gary wanted to include, but can you give me some idea of the floorplan here? I need to know what I’m working with,” Jack asked.

  “Sure. Ok, the Keep is only accessible from the front. That door opens, obviously, onto the Main Hall. The Hall is configured to be used as a meeting place, banquet hall, or even as overflow quarters, though that would certainly be non-ideal. Two hallways extend from the Main Hall; one to the east and one to the west of the fireplace. The west hallway leads to the kitchens, public rooms and facilities. A separate hallway leads from the kitchens to the food storage below,” she said, using her notebook to sketch a map as she spoke.

  “To to the right, or east, lies the Armory, the Administration facilities, and your own quarters.” Jessica continued.

  “My quarters?” Jack asked in surprise.

  “Well, they were meant for Gary, but with you stepping into his role they’ll be assigned to you instead.” she explained.

  “I’
m fine with a cot with the other men Jessica, use the rooms for someone else.” Jack demurred.

  Shaking her head, Jessica countermanded him. “Jack, they are the leader’s quarters. They’re built next to the Admin and Armory for a reason. Besides, you need some privacy as the leader, trust me on that. More importantly, you need to be close to Winterhaven’s nerve center. I know its gonna feel a little weird, but Gary had never even moved in. They are all you Jack, and you’ll need them,” she said firmly, making it clear that she would brook no further argument on the subject.

  Acquiescing, Jack moved on,“Fine, Administration center? What does that include?” he asked.

  “Communications room, with net, radio, and phone service. Although I expect that the radio is about the only option still functioning. It also houses a conference room, a library, and a couple offices.” She answered.

  “Ok, so basically, the Keep is a highly defensible apartment complex with a couple offices and a communal kitchen?” Jack clarified.

  “Correct. The walls are reinforced stone, same as the main encircling wall. There are no windows until the third floor, to prevent weak-points in its defensive abilities. The majority of the square footage is devoted to housing, with a massive storage area placed underground. The building itself is tall enough to provide a three hundred and sixty degree vantage point over the surrounding environment.” Jessica said..

  Jack thanked her for the information just as Sam, Bear, and Duke came hurrying back.

  Bear spoke first, “We have a list of everyone’s status: age, name and former occupation.”

  He handed the extensive list to Jessica as Jack indicated he should.

  Duke summarized, “Basically, it breaks down as follows. We have one hundred and thirteen survivors all told. Three families, several couples, and the rest are single or their families aren’t here. Forty two of the survivors are female, with the rest male, excluding the nine children that is.”

  “Ok, and we have room for how many Miss Riel?” Jack asked.

  “Depends on how we organize ourselves. There’s room for forty out in the barracks on the grounds if we need it as well. There is a floor of ten matching apartments, each of them a two bedroom arrangement with a small living room. There is a communal bathroom on each floor by the way. The apartments are on the top floor, next down is the floor of fifty rooms. They have no living space, but are private quarters meant for one person or a couple.The two floors beneath that contain hostel style rooms, with five beds per room. Each of those floors can hold one hundred people.” she outlined.

  Jack thought quickly before speaking.I have to get everyone in, as comfortably as I can manage but with room for growth or change.

  Decided, he explained, “Ok, heres the plan. Put the long-term couples in the single bed quarters. That means any adults dating more than a couple months, not teenagers who think they are in love. The three families, the ones with children, they can go in the apartments. Everyone else goes in the bottom two floors. Men on the bottom floor, women on the top.”

  “Are you sure? That leaves several full apartments and a lot of private quarters unfilled.” Sam questioned.

  “Yeah, but we will be adding more survivors in the future, and it’s a good idea to have space for them. More importantly, it’s fair. This way no one gets special treatment; they get the same amount of relative space. I don’t care who is in what room, so Jessica, please handle assigning that. If anyone has a problem you can send them to me, but to be honest, I suspect everyone is too tired to care at present.” he said. Without further questions, Jack dismissed the group.

  Remembering suddenly, he caught the tall brunettes attention, “Oh, Jessica, one more thing. I think I heard that your boyfriend is here and that he has military training?” he asked.

  “Yes, his name is Parker. He was here on leave visiting me.” she replied.

  “Ok, please send him to meet me on the walkway above the gate as soon as you can.” Jack ordered. Jessica nodded, before hurrying off to plan for assignments and find Parker. As she left, Jack turned and walked back down the hallway to the massed group of survivors. Stepping back to the dais, he caught their attention.

  “Listen up people. We have discussed the facilities and Miss Riel will be assigning your quarters shortly. Keep in mind that we do have limited space, so you may have to become accustomed to less privacy than you were used to. I ask that you all make an effort to be patient and make it work as best as you are able.” he said, looking around seriously to leave no doubt that his suggestion to be patient was in fact an order.

  “Once your rooms are assigned, I want you all to try and get some rest. Tomorrow we will begin the business of organizing ourselves, but tonight you have earned a respite. After you talk to Miss Riel, I need the following people to join me out by the gate. Dax Gunderson, Sam Hightower, Duke Sutherland, Bear Bineau, Justin Binz, Elizabeth Fel, and John Xander. The rest of you, go to bed.”

  Orders disseminated, Jack walked out out of the Keep. Fenrir appeared from the darkness to fall in behind him. The rest of the survivors crowded around the recently re-appeared Miss Riel as she began to make her assignments.

  Walking out into the afternoon air, Jack breathed deeply, settling his nerves. When they reached the gate, Jack paused to pet Fenrir before signaling for his loyal pet to stand guard by their. With a slight pout, Fenrir curled up in front of the gate and waited.

  Leaving the wolf behind, Jack climbed the stairs to the top of the wall, pausing to check behind him. A small group of people was making it’s way across the grounds; presumably it consisted of the people he had requested. That gave him a couple minutes alone to take the measure of the man who had been waiting for him.

  Jessica’s boyfriend was a shorter man, though even stationary he seemed to suggest an air of frenetic energy. He was dangerous looking, with dark brown eyes and close-cropped blond hair. He stood at attention as Jack moved over to him, his hand seeming to twitch towards a salute. Smiling at the man’s reaction, Jack went ahead and saluted him in response to the impulse. The young man grinned crookedly, relaxing at the familiar gesture.

  “So you’re military I hear; which branch, and what rank?” Jack inquired.

  “Sergeant Parker Johnson of the U.S. Army Sir. I was part of the third mechanized, operating out of Virginia. I was on leave, visiting my girl when this went down. Doesn’t look like there’s anyway for me to reach my unit anymore sir, so I suppose helping here is as close to fulfilling my duty as I can get.” he stated.

  “Glad to hear it soldier.” Jack replied.

  Having another soldier will help. I’m going to be spread thin as it is. That is, assuming I can trust him. I’ll need to keep an eye on him, get his measure. Shaking himself, Jack nodded to Parker and then turned to face the group of people he had requested join him. They had just finished climbing the steps and stood arrayed about him patiently.

  “Ok, the reason we are out here is simple. The world is still suffering some death spasms and things are only going to get more dangerous for the foreseeable future. If we want to make it until spring, we are going to need more than a wall and a handful of men. We need an army. I trust each and every one of you. Sergeant Parker here is military trained, as are Dax and I, so we do have some of the requisite seeds for such an endeavor.

  It is my intention to begin training our survivors how to fight, how to defend themselves.” Jack paused to look into each person’s face, gauging them. He paused at Duke, inclining his head as permission for the man to speak.

  “Look, Jack...I’ll be the first to admit that without you, I’d be dead. I guess I understand that things are going to be different now… but we just fought, and killed, a bunch of people. I killed people. I don’t know how to process that, much less start training to become a mindless killing machine.” At the casual slam against military personnel, Jack arched an eyebrow, and Duke had the good graces to blush before stammering on, “N..no offense I mean...not that you guys are machines
....I....” He glanced around helplessly, hoping that someone else would share his worries.

  Some of the other civilians seemed to share Duke’s reservations, and Jack took a moment to survey them before responding directly to Duke.

  “Listen man, I understand how hard, how different this is. I really do. You have to understand something though. Those convicts who attacked us....they are still out there, and they're not even the real issue. The problem is that there will be more of their ilk...and worse. This world just became one with too few resources for too many consumers. People are going to be starving, killing just to survive a few more hours. There will be monsters in the night now Duke. Raiders, rapists...probably cannibals. Thats just for the first few months to a year, after that the real threats start.” he said.

  With a sigh, he went on, “Once the fall is finished and things have stabilized a little, that’s when it will get really bad. We are the most prepared group of survivors in our area, but there will be other groups. Some of them will be friendly, some will just want to be left alone. Others however, will want to dominate and conquer. Groups and colonies that are willing to wage war to expand their control, to take what they need from others. If we are not prepared to counter that threat, we will lose everything.”

  The group seemed to be wrestling with his words, each individual trying to determine if Jack’s proposed scenario was likely or not. One by one, they accepted it as truth, and he could see the terror in some of their eyes.

  “So, to protect ourselves, to protect those we love, we are going to get stronger. We are going to train, and we are going to give ourselves the tools to fight. That training is going to start with all of you, and it’s going to start tonight. Justin, Bear, Kate, and Parker. I want you four with Dax. You will all patrol the far approaches, keeping an eye to the lake. The rest of you are with me. We’ll be watching the gate tonight. Everyone take turns getting rest, operate in pairs, and keep a sharp eye. Get that rest though, because we all need to be prepared for the real work that starts in the morning.”