by Eric Vall
“Basically,” I chuckled.
“Wouldn’t he have been discharged if you hadn’t done that?” Paige asked.
“Most likely,” I said with a shrug. “But he didn’t seem like a bad guy, and I didn’t want to cause trouble for him. He had only tried to help, stupid as it was.”
“Wow,” Anna said. “No wonder he’s so happy to see you.”
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “You’re the only reason he was able to stay in the military and become a unit leader.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said, I had never thought about the situation like that. “It never seemed like a big deal to me, though.”
“Of course not,” Tara said. “It wasn’t your ass on the line.”
“That’s true,” I laughed.
“So how do you want to play this?” Anna asked. “We could try to get up before dawn and leave early?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Especially if we ever want to come back through here again.”
“Right,” Tara said. “We shouldn’t piss him off without knowing that he’s a dick first.”
“We’ll get up as usual tomorrow and get going,” I said. “We don’t want to be taking off in the dark anyways.”
“Cool,” Tara said, and she sat up from the bed with a drunken sway. “Now, did anybody bring any snacks from the boat?”
“Oh, my gosh,” Anna laughed. “You just ate dinner.”
“Yeah, but I’m still feeling peckish,” the platinum blonde pouted.
“Here,” Paige said with an eye roll, and she pulled some smoked meat from her backpack and handed it to Tara.
“Thank you,” the platinum blonde said with a grin, and she took a slow bite of the meat as she continued to rock back and forth.
“You are gonna regret this in the morning,” Anna said, and she shook her head at the platinum blonde.
“You’re going to be the one who regrets not even having a full drink,” Tara retorted, but somehow I felt this was a battle that Anna would ultimately win. It had been a long time since Tara had drank that much, and I was sure she was in for one hell of a hangover in the morning.
A knock sounded on the door, and the girls all looked at me.
“It’s fine,” I said, and I moved to answer the door. I knew it had to be Brody, though I had my hand on my pistol just in case.
“Tav,” Brody said as I pulled the door open. “I came to get you for a nightcap.”
“Oh, I’m not sure about that,” I said, and I let my hand off my pistol slowly. “It’s been a long day.”
“Oh, come on,” the dark haired man groaned. “A drink will do you some good. You can have fun with your ladies later.”
I was so taken aback by his forward comment about the girls that I allowed him to pull me into the hallway.
Brody was obviously tipsy already, and he threw his arm over my shoulder and leaned against me. I managed to mouth ‘lock the door’ to the girls before I was pulled down the hallway.
“Brody,” I said. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink already?”
“Oh, nonsense,” the dark haired man said with a wave of his hand. “You’re always so serious, Tav. Have some fun for once and have a drink with me! You barely drank anything at dinner.”
“It was a long day,” I repeated. I despised when people pressured me to do things that were totally unnecessary. As far as I was concerned it was any individual’s prerogative to turn down a drink, or anything else for that matter.
“It’s always a long day in times like these,” Brody said with a grin. “But that’s why you must celebrate with a long night!”
Brody laughed loudly, and it echoed off the stone walls and taunted me.
I figured there was no use in fighting against this nightcap, but I also figured that Brody was drunk enough that he would pass out soon, and I would be able to get back to the girls.
We continued down the hallway until we reached a large set of double doors to the left. Brody pushed them open and walked in confidently, but I hung back and stared at the extravagance of the room. There was a large canopy bed with fine linens thrown over it, antique paintings on every wall, a fireplace that took up the whole of the far wall, beautiful vases on every surface, and a large, bearskin rug on the floor by the fire.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Brody chuckled when he saw that I still stood in the doorway.
“Extremely,” I said with narrowed eyes. “How did you get all this stuff?”
“It was all lying around the fort,” he said with a shrug. “I brought it all in here when I first took over the place.”
Brody handed me a glass that I assumed was more vodka, and then he led me over to a small table that sat in the corner of the room near the fireplace. The seats were large, wingback chairs that were upholstered in velvet, and the table was small, round, and wooden. I figured that table was from the eighteenth century at least, and I frowned when I looked at the rings left on it from glasses. I knew that everything had a purpose now, but that didn’t mean it had to be treated like trash.
“So,” Brody said after he took a long drink. “How much are you loving this?”
He looked at me with a wide smile and expectant eyes.
“Loving what?” I asked. “The fort?”
“No,” the dark haired man laughed. “The world now, man.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” I said and I took a small sip from my glass. Once again it was like fire in my throat, and I nearly coughed from the taste.
“The apocalypse!” Brody exclaimed, and he waved his arms to indicate everything around us. “Come on, Tav, we were trained for this! We know how to survive now where most other people just flounder.”
“How is that a good thing?” I asked with a raised brow.
“We have the upper hand,” the large man said with a grin. “This is our time to shine.”
“Are you saying you like the world more now than you did before?” I asked seriously. Not only was that an absolutely crazy thought to me, but I didn’t understand why he wished this world upon everyone when he clearly knew that most people weren’t prepared for it.
“You don’t?” he asked with a wry smile.
“I don’t think I do,” I said with a shake of my head.
“How can you not?” the dark haired man laughed. “This is the time when we get everything that’s coming to us. We hold all the cards.”
“You wouldn’t go back to the way things were before?” I asked.
“Never,” Brody said with a grin.
“You don’t miss your family?” I asked seriously. “Or your friends?”
I didn’t have much family to begin with, but still, I knew so many others did, and that they would go back in a heartbeat if it meant seeing their loved ones again. I thought of Henry, the portmaster we had met a few days earlier, and how his daughter had passed away over the winter. I also thought of the girls and their families. I loved each of them, but if I could I would turn back the clock for them so they could see their loved ones once more, regardless of if it meant me having to give them up in the process. Nobody deserved to have their world ripped away from them the way so many had already.
“Eh,” he said and he took a long drink. “I was never close to my family. Never kept many friends. Guys like you and me, we were never given our dues. We were never repaid for all the shit we went through in that fucking war. But now we can be. Now it’s our time to take what we deserve.”
“I don’t know about you,” I said, and I felt my jaw set as I spoke. “But I served for my country and my family. I don’t need any repayment.”
“Sure, you do,” Brody said. “You almost died how many times? And what did we get? Some crappy medals and a shitty salary. Bro, we are fucking warriors. We can do shit that almost no one else in the world can do. This is our time to reap the benefits. Finally.”
I stared at the dark haired man and thought about what he said. How could he think t
his way? I knew there were always people who were excited about the thought of the apocalypse, but I always figured most of them were people who wanted to appear tough, but who would probably die on the first day. I never figured a military man to be someone who was excited about the end of the modern world. We’d seen war, we knew what it did. Why would any of us want that so close to home?
“You think I’m crazy,” Brody laughed, and he poured himself another drink.
“Not crazy,” I said, though the word had crossed my mind. “I just don’t share your thoughts.”
“For now,” the large man said with a wink and a grin. “We’ll get you there, brother.”
I said nothing, only took a drink of my vodka, but Brody tapped the bottom of my cup and sent it upward so I got far more than I had intended.
“What the fuck,” I spat, and my shirt was covered in the clear lighter fluid.
“Just fuckin’ around,” Brody laughed. “Now, let’s talk about those girls you have.”
“What about them?” I growled. I was still pissed about the drink, and even more pissed that he had brought up the girls.
“Well, you told me about their skills,” the dark haired man said. “But I noticed you only asked for one room.”
“We all like to be close,” I said.
“I’m sure you do,” he said and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “You’re with all of them, aren’t you?”
“I’m not going to answer that,” I said, and my lips formed a thin, angry line. My patience had grown thin, but I knew I needed to keep a level head, so I took a deep breath to steady myself.
“That’s a yes,” Brody laughed. “Of course you are, you lucky dog. Men like us can’t keep the women away, am I right?”
“I suppose you are,” I said with a forced smile. I didn’t like the way he talked about the girls, but I also had to remind myself that he didn’t appear to mean any harm with it. As much as I detested locker room talk, I had known many men to partake in it, and Brody was definitely one of them. I decided to let it go and see what more I could find out from him.
“I noticed your men don’t carry their rifles correctly,” I said and I took another drink. I needed to play the part here. “You do a shitty job of training them, or are they just stupid?”
“Stupid sounds about right,” he laughed and clapped me on the shoulder.
“How many civilians do you have here, anyways?” I asked, and I tried to keep my voice as nonchalant as possible.
“About fifty,” Brody said with a shrug.
“You don’t even have a full count?” I laughed, though I didn’t find it funny in the slightest.
“Some people left,” he said with a shrug. “Some people stayed. I don’t concern myself with it too much unless it involves newcomers. What about you? You’ve got to have quite a few people at the University of Vermont. That’s a pretty big campus.”
“It is,” I agreed. “We have about the same.”
“Small number for such a large campus,” Brody said with a grin. “You should fill it out more, have more hands for labor.”
“I guess I’m not as trusting as you,” I said with a smile.
“Speaking of trusting,” the dark haired man said, and he looked at me with dark, serious eyes. “I have a mission for you.”
“A mission?” I asked, and my brows pinched together. “We’re leaving in the morning.”
“You can if you wish,” the large man said, and he lowered his drink to the table. “But I think you’ll definitely want to hear my proposal.”
“What is it?” I asked after a moment. Whatever it was, I was ready to turn it down, but my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know what Brody was up to, what was his plan, and why he thought he needed me.
“It’s for you and your girls,” he said with a grin. “We’ll talk about it over breakfast.”
“I’m not sure we’ll stay that long,” I said.
“Ah, come on, Tav,” Brody laughed. “Let me feed you while you listen to my proposal. If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine. But I’m asking you because I know I can trust you, and it will benefit us both.”
“Alright,” I agreed at length. “We’ll stay and listen.”
“Great,” the dark haired man chuckled, and he filled my drink once more. “A toast! To old friends!”
“To old friends,” I said and I clinked my glass against his and downed the rest of my beverage. It burned all the way down to my belly, and I immediately regretted the action, but I hoped that the quicker I drank my nightcap the quicker Brody would let me leave.
“Now let’s get you back to your room,” Brody said with a grin. “I’m sure you want some alone time with your ladies right about now. I know I could use some with mine.”
“That’s alright,” I said, not wanting him anywhere near the girls. “I can get back to my room by myself.”
“You remember where it’s at?” the dark haired man asked as he led me to the door.
“I’m a Ranger, remember, brother?” I asked with a forced smile. “I think I can manage a damn hallway.”
“Right you are,” Brody laughed, and he opened up the door for me, but then he stopped and looked at me seriously with a hand on my shoulder. “It’s good to see you, brother. This world needs men like us.”
“It’s good to see you, too,” I said and I clapped him on the shoulder, then headed into the hallway. Maybe Brody just needed a friend. He obviously didn’t trust the civilians he lived with, and maybe that had taken its toll on his mental state. Brody had always been a wild one, but this new Brody was so over the top I wasn’t sure what to do with him.
I waited until he closed the door behind me, then I headed back down the hallway toward my room, though I had no intention of going there just yet. Instead, I snooped around the rooms on the sides of the hallway.
This was only one wing of the fort, and I didn’t want to go too far in case one of the civilians entrusted with a rifle saw me. I imagined those were the only men that Brody trusted, which meant their loyalty would lie with him. The others, though, I couldn’t be so sure about.
The civilians had to be around here somewhere, and I needed to talk to them. I slowly, quietly opened every door that I could and peered in.
First, I found what appeared to be a study that had a wall lined with books. I made my way into the room, the moonlight shone through the open window and gave enough light for me to see. It appeared to be all history books about the fort and the wars it had been involved in, so I searched through the desk next. I found nothing except for some stationary and pens. There had to be something around, particularly something that led Brody to believe that North Korea had nothing to do with the EMP when I had proof otherwise.
The next room I found was a bedroom, but oddly, there was nobody in it. It looked like it hadn’t been lived in for years. There was dust on the nightstands, and in the fireplace, too. I peered through the drawers, but found them utterly empty. With so many civilians around, one would think that all the rooms would be used.
I had wandered around the hallway for at least twenty minutes at that point, and I hadn’t seen a single other person. Where were the civilians? Did they sleep in another wing entirely?
I moved to the window of the bedroom and looked out to the courtyard below. I saw the remnants of a fire that still smoked slightly, but other than that there was no movement. Not a single person or thing moved, not even a bird or shadow. The courtyard was so still it appeared to look like a painting, and it made me question even more. Where was everybody? Fifty plus people were no small amount of bodies, they had to be somewhere.
I finished my scan of the rooms in the hallway, but only found more of the same. There was nobody around, so I went back to the room the girls were in and knocked quietly on the door.
I feared they might be asleep, but after a moment I heard movement.
“Who is it?” Anna whispered from the other side of the door.
“It’s Tav,” I w
hispered back, and I heard the lock click and the door opened halfway.
“Get in here,” the redhead hissed. “We were so worried.”
“Sorry,” I said as I slid inside and locked the door behind me. “Brody insisted I stay and drink with him.”
“Not more of that potato vodka, I hope,” Paige said with a grimace.
“Oh, yeah,” I sighed.
“Gross,” the brunette said, and she wrinkled her nose.
“Did anyone try to come by?” I asked.
“No,” Bailey said with a shake of her blonde head. “It’s been super quiet.”
“I see the alcohol got the best of Tara,” I chuckled as I looked at the platinum blonde sprawled out on the bed. She had passed out hard, drool dripped down from the side of her pretty mouth, and her perfect breasts rose and fell in the heavy, even draw of her breathing.
“She’s been like that since you’ve been gone,” Paige laughed.
“So what did Brody want to talk about?” Anna asked seriously.
“A bunch of bullshit,” I said. “But he did say he has a proposal for us.”
“Proposal?” Paige asked with pinched eyebrows. “What kind of proposal?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “He wouldn’t tell me. He said we have to stay for breakfast, and he’ll tell us then.”
“Breakfast doesn’t sound bad,” Bailey said with a small smile.
“Yeah,” Anna said with a frown. “But we wanted to leave early.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But I think we should hear it.”
“Alright,” the redhead said, and she pursed her lips. “We trust you.”
“I know,” I said with a soft smile. “Thank you.”
“Did you find out anything else?” Paige asked.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I tried to search the area for the civilians, but I couldn’t find any.”
“That’s weird,” Anna said.
“I thought so, too,” I agreed.
“Maybe they sleep somewhere else,” Bailey suggested.
“Yeah,” Paige said. “But why?”
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“Something weird is going on here,” Anna said.