She held the Glock tightly, knowing that such sweet, permanent surrender was only a second away.
“Jo? I’m scared!”
It was Mags. Right outside the bathroom door.
Jolene’s mind screamed at her in the silence. She wanted to load the damn thing and pull the trigger. So fucking easy.
Except she couldn’t. Not now.
“Be right out, sweetie. Taking a pee. Do you have to go, too?”
“No. Come out soon.” Mags sounded like a tiny, frightened mouse.
Jolene put the gun and the magazine back into her purse. She climbed to her feet and fumbled to the toilet to pee, surprised to find that when she flushed, the water was now off, too. Maybe it had been off all along.
She went out to meet the others.
6
The group was small in number, but they had plenty of food, water, guns, and ammo between them. They also had two short wave radios, batteries, phone chargers, Jolene’s ham radio, extra clothing, meds, and a few books and toys for Mags and any other kids they may find along the way. Other survivors had to be out there. There was no way Jolene could see this being a national attack, let alone a global one. Nuclear war was global. An asteroid impact was global. A super-volcanic eruption was global.
Not some guys spraying for bugs or men driving strange yellow trucks in some rural shitkick neighborhood.
Once they found power or cell service, they could figure out if this were an isolated event or something much bigger.
Jolene prayed it was just them. Just the very unlucky people of Morris, Indiana.
It could have been any town. It could have happened anywhere.
But what about this Crow? Whoever this person was said other towns had been hit. Was he for real?
Jolene zipped up her pack and grabbed Mags’ Hello Kitty pack. “You stay beside me at all times. Hold my hand. I will make sure you are safe, but you have to stay close.”
“We ready to head out?” Gordon asked, as he put his pack on his back and gathered up as many other bags as he could carry.
Gary finished packing a few tents for the wagons.
“Hey, all, if you don’t mind, why don’t we take hands and just say a little prayer,” Janey said. Without hesitation, they converged into a circle, each taking the other’s hands. They bowed their heads.
“Dear Lord, watch over this group of friends and neighbors as we set out to find our families and friends. Keep us safe from harm and guide us with your light as we walk together through dark places, forever and ever. Amen.” Janey led the short, sweet prayer.
They all said, “Amen.”
Despite the prayer and the momentary human closeness, Jolene felt profound isolation, loss, and hopelessness wash over her like a black wall of thick smoke. She almost cried out, engulfed by the darkness of it, the heaviness.
She put on her pack, and said, “Let’s roll.”
Brian hustled up to Jolene’s side. “I might have an idea of what happened.”
Gordon was behind them. He quickened his pace.
“You know something, Brian, how about letting us in on it?” Gordon said.
“It’s a theory, and you won’t like it, Gordon, because it might put a dark stain on your precious government. The planes fly over and spray some powder, then the trucks move in and spray another powder, and suddenly we are all hiding out in the woods like a fucking bad end of the world movie. There has to be a connection.”
“But what?” Jolene asked.
“Maybe the planes were spraying a sort of pre-treatment, and then the trucks moved in and sprayed the main chemical that wiped out our pretty little haven near the woods, which would explain why we survived. But also, we were all hiding, so maybe the stuff was only potent if you had direct exposure for a very short period of time.” Brian stopped for a breath of air.
“Blaming your own government is reprehensible,” Gordon said, his voice level. Anger brimmed below the surface.
Brian held his tongue.
“We gotta stay focused. Because no matter what this is or who is behind it, right now we are sitting ducks if they decide to come back,” Jolene said.
The woods around them grew thick and dark and threatened to swallow them whole if they didn’t keep their flashlights on and their wits about them.
Somewhere in the distance came a low humming sound, like the engine of a single private plane. The group kept moving until it got a little louder, a little closer.
Then they stopped moving.
“What do we do?” Janey asked.
Jolene motioned for her to be quiet. “We go quiet, we go dark, and we don’t move,” she said, crouching to the ground. The others did the same, extinguishing their flashlights. The humming drew closer.
Brian pointed through the trees where a pinpoint of a red light could be seen against the pitch black that surrounded them. The light moved erratically.
Brian looked at Jolene and mouthed the word “drone.” She nodded, afraid to breathe as the light moved through the trees as if guided by someone standing nearby. It never even hit a tree trunk and managed to scrape under branches without disabling itself.
Jolene wondered if the drone was heat-seeking. If so, they were goners. Perhaps it responded only to movement. If that was the case, to cut and run would be the worst thing they could do. She noticed it wasn’t necessarily coming closer to where they were huddled in the brush. The drone hovered over one spot for a while, as if getting its bearings, or searching, and then to the group’s collected relief, it moved away in a direct line.
They waited until the light could no longer be seen before anyone dared to speak again.
“I reckon that thing will be back as soon as we make some noise, or use our flashlights, so what do we do now?” Gordon asked.
Nobody answered.
After five more minutes of waiting, the drone had not returned. Jolene got up and stretched her legs. “We can go in the opposite direction then, back towards town, and through the woods on the other side of Main,” she suggested, keeping her voice low.
“I dunno, that may be where that thing is headed now,” Brian answered. “I wonder if we should just follow it, stay a good enough distance behind. Maybe it won’t backtrack, so we’ll be safe for a while and then we can even track the son of a bitch back to where it’s being launched from.”
“Yeah, like in a monster movie. You get behind the damn thing, not in front of it. Get behind it where it already stomped on everything in its path,” Alex offered.
Jolene opened her mouth to say something rude but realized he was onto something.
“That seems like a reasonable idea,” Gordon answered. “If Godzilla is on your trail, the best thing to do is get beside him, and then behind him, where he’s already done his damage. Chances are he won’t be looking back, but forward. You don’t wanna be in front of him.”
Alex nodded enthusiastically.
Brian looked at Jolene, and she shrugged. Jolene resented it for a moment, that they always looked to her for the final say. Maybe it was her PERT training or her leadership vibe. They wouldn’t think that way of her had they known how close she’d come hours earlier to blowing her own fucking brains out of her skull.
Jolene picked up her pack. “Let’s go. Does us no good to stay here.” She moved off, and the others gathered their packs and followed.
She grabbed her handheld out of the belt holder and turned the volume up. If anyone was broadcasting, she’d know.
Two hours later, they reached the end of the woods that bordered their town and made their way quickly through the less dense brush. The street ahead was pitch dark, with no signs of life.
“Where are we?” Siri whispered.
“This must be Brandisville. Northeast end, I think,” Janey answered.
“The place is a ghost town,” Brian said, more to himself than anyone.
“Why don’t Brian and I go on ahead and take a look around, while the rest of you wait back in the woods for
us,” Gordon suggested, pulling out a handgun from his pack. Brian saw the gun and took out his own sidearm from under his jacket.
The moon was full, which was both a blessing and a curse. A curse because they had to keep hidden from the bright glow it cast down through the trees. A blessing for Gordon and Brian, who could search the street and the row of houses ahead of them without using their flashlights, and attracting more attention.
Once Gordon and Brian were out of sight, Jolene closed her eyes and listened. She heard nothing but the rustling of leaves from a slight breeze in the higher branches. No sound of any other life—insect, animal, human, or otherwise. She shivered. At least the hum was gone. For now ...
They waited another hour before they saw Gordon and Brian walking back down the moonlit street, staying close to the houses so as not to be exposed. Both men had their guns in hand. They were alone.
“They didn’t find anyone.” Janey said in such a dead tone that Jolene felt her heart drop.
Jolene finally caught Brian’s gaze.
“The houses were empty. Every single one,” he whispered in her ear so Mags could not hear.
Jolene didn’t know if she felt better about that. What if he had said they were all filled with dead bodies? Which was a better outcome? The town, like their own, was empty, and the people who had once lived in it had seemingly vanished into thin air.
“We saw a few dead dogs in a couple of the yards ...”
“At least now we know we weren’t the only ones,” Jolene whispered back, squeezing Mags’ hand and smiling down at her. The little girl appeared not to have heard. She looked sleepy.
“We need to put Mags in one of the wagons,” Jolene said. They stopped and let Mags lay down in the wagon Gary pulled. Jolene took a blanket and placed it under Mags’ head, then covered her with another blanket.
“You warm, pup?” Jolene asked, her voice soft. Mags nodded and closed her eyes. She was asleep in minutes, her doggy clasped tightly in her little hands.
Jolene and Brian walked in silence. Gary pulled Mags behind them, deep in thought. Gordon pulled the generator wagon. Janey and Siri walked side by side, neither speaking. Alex brought up the back with the wagon full of supplies. He scanned the trees to the east and stopped.
“Guys, we’ve got company,” Alex whispered.
Jolene followed to where he was looking and saw the red light moving through the trees.
The group stopped.
“I don’t hear a hum,” Alex whispered.
They stood frozen before Jolene motioned instinctively for them to get down low. They crouched, trying to make themselves smaller than the brush that surrounded them.
The light closed in on their location, and the hum grew louder as the drone deftly maneuvered the dense woods.
“Shit,” Janey said, then dropped to the ground flat as the drone came within a hundred feet of their huddled bodies.
“Nobody breathe,” Jolene hissed.
Nobody dared.
The humming grew quieter. Jolene got up and looked into the darkness.
“It’s gone for now, at least. We should keep moving,” she said, not waiting for the others as she stepped forward. “Stay along the tree line.”
“Maybe we should stay in one of those houses for tonight and discuss our options,” Siri said.
“They’ve already been through this town, that much we know,” Gordon said, directing his words to Jolene.
Jolene shook her head. “I dunno, we’d have to go dark. No lights and no noise. But we can give it a shot, I mean, we are sitting ducks out here at night with our flashlights on.”
“I’d suggest we not go into the first house, too obvious. Maybe the fourth down, on the left, where that light pole is,” Brian said.
They moved fast in a single file, into the shadows of the street. At the fourth house, Brian opened the unlocked front door. Once the wagons were inside, everything was moved into the middle of the house. All curtains and blinds in the exterior rooms were closed.
“We can afford a little light in here, but keep it low, and use the smaller generator, it’s a lot quieter,” Jolene said, setting down her purse. “I’m gonna look for the bathroom. If Mags wakes up tell her I’m here.”
Jolene walked past Siri.
“Jolene?” Siri’s voice shook, tentative.
Jolene ignored her.
As she walked out of the room, Gordon stopped her. “Jolene, I know there’s bad blood between you and Siri. Remember, we are all that’s left right now until we find others. So, it might behoove you to get along.”
Gordon smiled, in such a caring, fatherly way, Jolene felt all the anger and protest slip out of her.
“Yeah, I guess that would be the wise thing to do.”
She walked down the hallway in search of the bathroom.
When Jolene came back down the hall and entered the dining room, the others were silent. They all sat, some on chairs, others on the floor, their backs against the wall. Exhausted. Lost inside their own minds. Jolene went to the wagon to check on Mags. She was still fast asleep, doggy in tow.
Jolene joined the others and sat on the floor, sighing wearily.
Nobody spoke for the next fifteen minutes.
It was the sound of Jolene’s ham radio that broke the silence.
Jolene scrambled for her bag and took out the FT-60, turning up the volume. The static was thick, but a man’s voice was coming through clearly. The group gathered closer, listening.
“... surrounding area ... drones shot down, but too many more coming ... moving underground ...”
The transmission ended. Jolene looked up at the others, eyes wide.
“Do I respond? We could be giving away where we are. We don’t know who this person is or if they are on our side.”
No one responded right away. Everyone was considering the options.
Gordon spoke first. “I think we have to try and trust this person. We don’t have much else to go on and if they are telling us and anyone else out there listening that there are drones everywhere, we need to get to someplace safe. Sounds like they’re going underground.”
Jolene nodded, looked to Brian, who nodded, too.
She keyed the PTT.
“CQ, CQ, this is KI6YES requesting contact.”
There was no answer amidst the static.
“CQ, CQ, this is KI6YES, we are survivors of some type of chemical attack on Morris, Indiana, possibly a terrorist attack, and request contact with anyone. Anyone respond, please?”
They waited, but the static continued.
“Fuck it—”
Jolene was cut off by a squeal over the radio. Then a voice broke through. A male voice.
“KI6YES, you are coming in loud and clear. As the Crow flies.”
Jolene scrambled again for the PTT.
“Message received. Where is your position?”
Jolene knew she probably wouldn’t get an answer. Whoever this person was would not readily give up their own location, not with the possibility of other ears listening. That gave Jolene a chill that went so deep every cell of her body shuddered.
“KI6YES, birds fly south to seek warmer places. Stay persistent.”
The transmission ended with a high pitch squeal and Jolene turned the volume down, leaving it just loud enough to listen for any further contact.
There was none.
“What the fuck? The way the crow flies? Stay persistent? Huh? Who is this joker, Jo? Do we really want to trust someone at this point, when we don’t even know what the hell happened to us yet?” Alex was red-faced, angry.
“We are between a rock and a hard place here,” Janey said.
“So, what do we do? Just keep wandering from town to town aimlessly?” Jolene asked. She was fighting her own rising anger, feeling hostile towards this group of people who seemed determined to make her the leader, to force her to make the decisions. Why the hell did she have to be in charge?
“Jo is right,” Siri said, “We nee
d something to move towards. This guy could be the enemy or this could be a giant hoax and we are the victims. The fact of the matter is, he could be legitimate and we have no other leads to go on. Why don’t we just keep moving south, as he suggested, but look for signs, keep our eyes open, and we can always change course if we need to.”
Siri looked around the group, her eyes landing on Jolene. Jolene returned Siri’s gaze, this time with much less hostility.
“Siri makes a lot of sense,” Jolene said, surprised she was agreeing with the woman she loathed. But it was true. They needed to keep moving, and south was as good a direction as any.
“So, we head south, our trajectory will put us next in line for Black Rock Hill. Maybe there will be people there. If not, we just keep going to the next town,” Gordon said.
“As the crow flies,” Alex whispered. “Do crows fly south?”
Jolene shrugged. “I dunno, but I think we were being given a little sign there. As the crow flies. Stay persistent. Everybody keep that at the tip of your brains and stay sharp. I’m going to catch some sleep.” Jolene lifted Mags out of the wagon, careful not to wake the little girl. “Tomorrow we will head out and see what the hell is going on out there. Hopefully, get phone reception so we can call family and friends.”
Gordon helped Siri and Janey up. Then, he, Alec, and Gary got blankets and water.
“I’ll check the kitchen for some supplies. We can use all the water we can get,” Gary said, moving off.
Jolene headed towards the back room, purse at her side, with Mags in her arms.
“No lights, dude,” Brian reminded him. He followed Jolene.
Jolene set Mags down on the bed. The child was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
“Jo?”
She turned, saw Brian come into the room, and closed the door.
“I’ve got something to tell you. About ... this ... Crow person.”
Jolene was all ears. She put her finger to her mouth and Brian nodded. They huddled in a corner of the room.
Black Mariah: Morris, Indiana (Black Mariah Series, Season 1) Page 5