by Eric Vall
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go in first, followed by Anna, Paige, Bailey, Kimmy, and Tara.”
“Shouldn’t I be last?” Kimmy asked.
“Actually, it’ll be better if you’re not the last one,” Anna said. “If by chance someone was hiding or something then one of us would be better equipped to deal with a blitz attack. You’ll be safest in the middle with one of us in front of and behind you.”
“Oh, okay.” She nodded, and her curls bounced lightly around her face.
“Keep your pistol out, but keep it low,” I instructed.
“I can do that,” she said.
“Left or right?” Anna asked me.
“I got left,” I said.
“Knew it,” Tara snickered.
“What?” I asked. “How could you know that?”
“You always go left,” Paige said with a shrug.
“Do I?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “I don’t know why, you just seem to like to go left first.”
“Huh,” I said, and I thought about it for a second. The girls were right, most often I would choose to go left first rather than right. It must be a force of habit.
“It’s just a cute little quirk of yours,” Tara said.
“I’m glad you think it’s cute,” I chuckled.
“Of course, you’re cute,” Tara said, and she turned to Kimmy, “don’t you agree, Kimmy?”
“I, uh…” Kimmy stammered and blushed a deep red.
“Come on,” Anna said with an eye roll as she opened the passenger’s door and stepped out, “we’ve got work to do, leave the poor girl alone.”
“I was just asking a question,” Tara said, but the grin on her face displayed her lack of guilt.
“Let’s go,” I said as I approached the front door of the building with my pistol up and ready.
The girls lined up behind me, and I looked back to see Tara adjust Kimmy’s arms as she held her weapon down. They really were doing a great job of helping her feel like part of the group.
I turned the handle on the door and found it open, so I quickly pushed the door and flanked left. Anna came in right behind me, and we each went to the back of the hallway. There was a staircase that led upward, but there were four doors in the hallway, so we cleared the small apartments before we made our way upstairs. The apartment I took looked like it belonged to an older couple. There were pictures of them on the wall with their grandchildren, and the decor was something out of the seventies. It even smelled like a grandmother’s house. Like baked goods and tobacco. It was somehow overwhelmingly comforting, and also unsettling at the same time. The pictures of the older couple with their grandchildren reminded me of Henry and his grandbabies, and my resolve to save them became that much stronger.
We made our way upstairs, and everyone seemed to be doing well in formation. I couldn’t look back too often, but I turned my head every once in a while to check and make sure that there were no issues. Kimmy seemed to be holding her own quite well. Instead of clearing her own rooms she followed Bailey into hers, which I thought was a great way to demonstrate what to do while also keeping her safe.
I wouldn’t want anything to happen to anyone that came along with us, but I felt a particular need to protect Kimmy. She had a baby back on campus that needed her, and I’d be damned if she didn’t come home to him.
“All clear,” I called out when the last room was done.
“Clear,” Anna agreed.
“Yup,” Paige said.
“Me, too,” Bailey said with a smile, and she turned to Kimmy.
“Oh, uh, clear?” Kimmy said, unsure if she was supposed to take part in the ritual or not.
“Clear,” Tara chuckled, obviously amused by Kimmy’s tone.
“So, what’d you think?” Anna asked.
“That was… exhilarating,” Kimmy said, and her cheeks were flushed with adrenaline. “I mean, we didn’t even see anybody or anything, but still, it was almost nerve wracking.”
“Yeah, that’s about right,” Paige said.
“I don’t know how you guys do that all the time,” Kimmy said. “My heart is racing.”
“The adrenaline rush is always kind of there,” Anna said, “but after a while you get control over it.”
“You did good,” I said.
“Now what?” Kimmy asked.
“Now we find the roof access,” Paige said.
“Oh,” she said with a frown, “I didn’t see a door or anything.”
“This is an old building,” I said, “it’s probably not somewhere you’d think.”
“Where should we check, then?” she asked.
“We’ll double check this hallway first,” I said, “then we’ll check the apartments.”
“I have an idea first,” Paige said, and she walked to the end of the hallway where there was a small supply closet and opened the door. “Yup.”
“In there?” I asked.
“Looks like it,” the brunette said.
“How’d you know it was in there?” Kimmy asked.
“I cleared the closet,” Paige said, “I didn’t see it, then, but it seemed like a logical place for it.”
Paige pulled down on a string that opened a slat to the roof and sunlight flooded the small room. There was no ladder, but there was a step stool, so she set that up and climbed up and out onto the roof.
“Looks good up here,” she called out.
“Alright,” I said. “Kimmy, go up there with Paige, we’ll bring up the supplies.”
“Okay,” the dark complexioned woman said, and she climbed the step stool as well.
I watched her for a moment to make sure she would make it alright, but after she had disappeared onto the roof I turned to see Tara staring at me with a crooked smile.
“What?” I asked.
“You were totally just staring at her butt,” the platinum blonde giggled.
“No,” I protested, “I was making sure she could get up alright.”
“Yeah, sure,” she said, and she turned and headed downstairs.
I thought about it for a moment, and I realized that Tara was right. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had definitely checked out Kimmy’s butt while she climbed onto the roof. It was ample in size, especially compared to her thin waist, and at one point I had the urge to reach out and give her a push, though I told myself it was to help her up at the time.
I really needed to get this crush under control. I couldn’t be distracted at a time like this.
Anna, Tara, Bailey, and I got back to the truck, and Anna and I pulled down the solar panel while Tara and Bailey got Kimmy’s bags out from the back.
“So, Tav,” Tara said as we headed back inside.
“Yes, Tara?” I asked, knowing that this was headed a direction I didn’t care to go at the moment.
“Why don’t you and Kimmy just bang already and get it over with?” she asked, and I saw Bailey’s face go bright red while Anna rolled her eyes.
“I don’t think it’s quite that simple,” I chuckled.
“It could be,” the platinum blonde told me with a shrug. “She definitely wants your body.”
“And how are you so sure of this?” I asked with amusement.
“I’ve seen her checking you out, duh,” she said. “We all have.”
“I don’t think I can trust your opinion on that,” I teased. “You think anybody looking at me is checking me out.”
“That’s because they are,” she said. “You just don’t realize how hot you are.”
“I hardly think that’s the case,” I laughed.
“So humble,” Tara sighed. “It just adds to your charm.”
I shook my head, but I felt my cheeks flush slightly, so I turned away and focused on the stairs as Anna and I climbed up with the solar panel between us.
Once we got the panel and the rest of Kimmy’s supplies up on the roof, I set each of us in a corner except for Paige, who helped Kimmy as she worked.
�
�So, how exactly does this work?” Bailey asked, and I saw her eyeing Kimmy and Paige curiously.
“This building has an antenna,” Kimmy said, “which is exactly what we needed, so we’re going to use that but make some modifications.”
“And how long do you think it will take?” Anna asked.
“This is pretty straightforward,” Kimmy said as she looked at the system she was working on. “It’s older, so I think… forty five minutes or so until it’s all up and running. Is that too long?”
“That’s perfect,” I said. “Whatever you need to do, just get it done. We need that radio to communicate with Rolly on campus.”
“Yeah, he was pretty upset about all this, huh,” Kimmy said.
“Those kids are like his own grandchildren,” Bailey sighed. “It was really hard to see him so upset.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Kimmy said with a shake of her head. “If someone ever took Anthony, I don’t even know what I’d do.”
“Luckily that’s never going to happen,” I assured her.
“Thanks,” she said with a soft smile.
“So, we’re forcing Henry and the kids to live with us from now on, right?” Tara asked.
“Definitely,” I agreed.
“Sweet, just checking,” the platinum blonde said.
“We can’t just force them to live with us,” Bailey protested with a frown.
“Uh, he’s pretty old,” Tara said. “I think we could take him. And the kids are… well, kids. So, I’m pretty sure we can make them stay if we really wanted to.”
“That’s true,” Paige chuckled. “But that’s more like keeping them as prisoners than anything.”
“Whatever keeps them safe,” Tara said.
“Bailey and Paige are right,” I sighed. “We can’t actually force Henry to stay with us, but I’d like it if he did.”
“After you get rid of this Brody guy then won’t they be safe again?” Kimmy asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I think they should stay, too, but if they didn’t want to then it’d be safer for them to go home after this is all over, wouldn't’ it?”
“For the time being,” I agreed. “But we don’t know what the future holds.”
“You get rid of one set of douchebags and another one pops up,” Tara muttered.
“I guess that’s true,” Kimmy said.
“I don’t even know how many assholes we’ve taken out anymore,” Anna said. “There’ll always be another one to take their place, though.”
“Which is why I vote to keep Henry hostage,” Tara said.
“Tara,” Bailey laughed.
“What?” the platinum blonde asked. “We’ll feed him and take good care of him and the kids, they just can’t leave.”
“They’re not a cat you can just keep indoors forever,” Paige chuckled.
“I know,” Tara sighed, and her eyes flooded with sadness. “I just want them to be safe.”
“We all do,” I told her with a soft smile. “We’ll talk to Henry about it when we get back.”
“After Briar got beat up he chose to come to campus,” Bailey pointed out. “Maybe Henry will be the same way.”
“That’s true,” Anna said. “Though I hate to think that it takes a beating for grouchy old men to agree to accept help.”
“They don’t call them grouchy old men for no reason,” I said.
Anna nodded and sighed, then she looked back down at her corner of the street below and everyone grew quiet. The girls were right, we couldn’t force Henry to stay if he didn’t want to, but I hoped we could convince him.
What Anna said struck a cord, though, we needed to come up with a better way to convince people to come with us. It was only a matter of time before someone got killed because they were too stubborn to come when they should have. I couldn’t help that, it was their decision, but maybe if we could come up with some sort of a pitch to get them to come live with us then it wouldn’t happen again. Not that we had anybody to try it out on currently, but I didn’t want what happened to Briar and Henry to happen to anyone else, especially anyone who was elderly like they were.
Every time I thought about someone hurting an older, weaker person I wanted to strangle something. It was like those news stories about caretakers in senior homes abusing the patients. I never thought that the punishments they received were enough. Anybody who would do that was sick beyond repair, and they deserved no less than death in my opinion.
I watched my corner of the roof for a while, but there wasn’t much to see. The building we were on was the last one on this street until you crossed the intersection below, but even then there wasn’t much else to see. You had a view of virtually the whole town from the top of this building, but more impressive was the forest beyond it. The town itself was small and it was nestled among a huge grove of trees that seemed to spread out for miles. If you drove on the main road you’d see the forest, but there was no way you’d see this little town through it all. It was almost as if this place had been paused in time, like it had remained the same since the fifties. A sort of Casablanca of places that felt strange and familiar all at once.
Aside from the one shop Bailey had pointed out with the broken window, and a few more that looked a bit worse for wear, nothing stood out as having been ransacked. The town was old and dingy, but it didn’t look torn apart like a lot of places we went to. I thought I heard movement at one point, but I couldn’t see anything, and nobody else seemed to have heard it, so I just continued to keep an eye on my area and an ear open in case it happened again.
The birds chirped happily in the trees around the town, and it gave me a serene feeling as I took in the sun on my face. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed since we arrived until Kimmy’s voice cut through the moment of quiet.
“I think that’s it,” she said, and I turned to see her and Paige smiling at the antenna in front of them.
“That was awesome,” Paige said.
“You did well,” Kimmy told her. “Thanks for the help.”
“My pleasure,” Paige said. “I’m alway down to learn something new.”
“That’s a good attitude to have,” Kimmy said with a smile. “It was important before all of this, but it seems even more important now.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Paige said with a proud smile of her own.
“That’s it, then?” I asked as I moved to inspect their work. I saw a few fresh looking wires, and the solar panel was hooked up to the little box underneath the antenna, but other than that nothing looked different.
“That’s it,” Kimmy chuckled, and she wiped her hands off on her jean shorts. “There wasn’t much to it. I had most of the heavy lifting done already by getting the radios themselves fixed up.”
“Psh,” Paige scoffed. “She says there wasn’t much to it, but no way anybody else could have done that. You’re awesome, Kimmy, thank you again for agreeing to come with us, I’m sure it wasn’t easy to leave baby Anthony behind.”
“It wasn’t,” Kimmy sighed, then she smiled at us. “But I’m happy to be here with you all. You’ve done a lot for me, the least I could do is help you all out.”
“You do plenty,” I assured her.
“Yeah,” Bailey added. “We all do our parts, you just have a different job from us most of the time.”
“True,” Kimmy agreed. “But being out here with you even for just a short time like I have been has given me a new respect for what you do. You all make it seem so easy, but it’s really dangerous out here.”
“It’s dangerous everywhere nowadays,” I said.
“Yeah, but you all built a safe haven for a lot of people,” she said. “And I don’t think you get enough thanks for it.”
“We’re just happy that we can help good people,” I said.
“Speaking of which,” Anna said with a clap. “If this is all finished, then we should probably get moving.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “Let’s gather up what we need and head out. We need t
o block off the roof access before we go, though, I don’t want anyone to come up here and steal our solar panel.”
“I’m sure we can find something,” Paige said.
“I doubt most people will even think there’s roof access,” Kimmy laughed. “I wasn’t sure there was.”
“People who are out here a lot tend to get crafty,” I told her with an amused smile. We were out and about so often that we were used to the way things worked, but she basically hadn’t left the campus since we’d taken her in last fall. It was kind of cute how smart she was about most things, but how naive she was about the dangers of the outside world. Part of me wanted to keep that innocence in place. She didn’t need to see all the shit that we saw whenever we left home.
A thud from below drew my attention, and everyone went deathly still. We weren’t alone any longer. Whatever had made that sound, it was definitely human. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but the same sound came through once more and I recognized it as a car door slamming closed.
“What--” Kimmy started, but I put my finger to my lips to silence her.
I pulled out my pistol and walked toward the edge of the roof.
Chapter 20
I took careful steps toward the edge of the building in case whoever was below was aware that I was on the roof. I hadn’t heard any engines, so it couldn’t have been someone in their own vehicle, they had to be going through the cars that were parked on the street.
I peered down to the ground below and counted six men. I watched them for a second, but as I took in their tattered clothes and beat up backpacks that looked fairly empty, it was clear that they were civilians who were headed south. I saw hunting rifles on a few of their backs, and it looked like each of them had a knife and a pistol, but other than those weapons and a backpack, they all traveled light.
Three guys were going through an old pickup truck that was parked across the street, but the others were peering inside of our jeep. I didn’t want to kill any civilians today, there’d been enough pointless death lately with Brody around, and as long as these guys respected the fact that the vehicle in front of them belonged to someone I didn’t think we’d have a problem.
I was irritated that they had shown up in the first place, we were already in a rush, and this was the last thing we needed, but I’d at least give them the option to leave peacefully.