by Roberts, EM
She was wearing the weirdest getup for someone her age. Hot pink tights peeked from under a long blue shirt that sported a fluffy white cat. She was wearing a pair of black high top Chuck’s and had bangles clanking on both her arms. She looked like a character, and Ella had to wonder if she acted like one, too.
“Um, great. How are you doing?” Jem asked, looking around the building in awe. It was almost similar to a department store except on a smaller scale.
“Well, just peachy. Peachy keen! What are you folks looking for?” She moved around the counter and held out her hand to showcase the store, “We have just about anything you’re looking for.”
“Well, we’re not sure, yet. Is it okay if we look around?” Ella asked.
“Sure thing. My name’s Mimi. Holler if you need anything.”
“Oh, sorry. My name is Ella. This guy is Amos, and that’s Jem,” Ella said, smiling at the older lady.
“Well, nice to meet you. I do want to let you guys know. We don’t take paper money. It ain’t worth nothing. We’ll take silver, gold and other valuables, but no cash. Sorry,” she warned.
Jem walked up to the counter and pulled out her medicine to trade. Ella still didn’t know how she felt about that. She almost felt like an accessory to a drug deal, but the hope was that the store would use the medicine for good and not recreation. Ella heard Mimi laugh and Jem join in, so she assumed the negotiations were going well.
Jem returned and confirmed it.
“We’ve got a deal. We can get a fill up and $100 store credit. She was really excited to get the medicine because her son’s a doctor. He’s out on a scouting mission right now, but she said he’ll be back soon.”
Ella was glad that they could get some gas and some supplies. It was awfully good of Jem to trade and help them out. Ella told her how much she appreciated it.
“Well, I have two things I have to have, and then we can get what we want. One, I need tampons, and two I need deodorant. I’m running low in the feminine hygiene department, and I’d rather not eat than to not have those things,” Jem stated passionately. Ella couldn’t agree with her more. Thankfully, she had a good supply of both items in her bag.
“Let’s get Amos a soda though before we even do that,” Jem declared, grabbing the big man’s arm and dragging him over to the shelf holding the beverage.
“He’s sure a big guy!” Mimi whispered in awe.
“Yeah, but he’s a teddy bear,” Ella reassured the old lady.
Ella strolled around the store, looking at the items on display. There truly was a little bit of everything. There was one whole row of canned goods ranging from spaghetti rounds to canned vegetables. Another row held personal items and household goods. A third row was clothing, and a fourth row was a mix of odds and ends. There were fruits and vegetables galore. Ella didn’t know what she wanted. It would be so nice to pick out one thing that was a luxury item. She knew it was frivolous, and she didn’t even know what she wanted.
“Look, Miss Ella, cherry cola. My absolute favorite!!! I’ve been dying for one. I’m gonna drink it one sip at a time, real slow. ‘Cause I don’t wanna get sick again,” the big man, excitedly said, his voice reverberating throughout the store. Mimi just looked on and smiled.
“You folks gonna stay for the night? We’ve got an extra cabin out there. It’ll cost you those pretty gold hoops, Missy.” Mimi, the entrepreneur exclaimed slyly.
Jem looked at Ella and shrugged. “I’ve another pair in my bag. Sounds good to me.”
Ella nodded. It would be dark soon. Why not? The door jingled as another customer walked in. She glance shyly over at Ella, Jem, and Amos and smiled.
“Well, we’re rich, for a minute, anyway. We can buy some supplies in the morning before we leave.” Jem stated, her arms containing a box of tampons, some deodorant, and a carton of cherry cola.
“You’ll spoil him,” Ella warned.
“Well, he needs it. I bet his grandmother was the only one who ever did, and it sounds like she was pretty strict on certain things. It’s the end of the world, Ella, let him have another soda. I’ll make sure he brushes his teeth,” Jem smiled cajolingly as she walked the items up to the counter and waited behind the young woman.
Ella walked outside with Amos and looked around. The place seemed pretty secure. That was nice. She’d gotten used to feeling somewhat safe for a few months until the farm had been burned to the ground. These last few weeks had been pretty stressful. It would be nice to finally sleep a good sleep.
She and Amos were retrieving their bags from the car when a caravan of three vehicles came rolling down the highway. The two of them stopped what they were doing as the passengers of the vehicles disembarked. In total, there were four men and three women.
“The illustrious Dr. Sully is back,” Jem announced coming up behind them, “We’re in that cabin over there.”
“Good, let’s get our stuff in there,” Ella stated, moving that way.
“Don’t you want to stay and meet the others?” Jem asked.
“Nah, maybe later,” Ella replied, motioning for Amos to follow with his bag.
The two made their way into the cabin. Poor Amos, there was no way he could sleep on the bed. It was a bunk cot and Ella feared he would break it with his weight. Maybe she could take the mattress off and lay it on the floor, so he’d at least have some cushion to sleep on.
She was pondering this solution when Jem came running into the cabin.
“Ella, remember how you told me about that military business. Well, Sully says when they were out, they saw a helicopter in the distance. He wants to talk to you about it.”
Shit! She seriously hoped it wasn’t Adams out on a scouting mission. She didn’t know who else it could be, though. If he saw the sign by the road, he’d definitely stop by and raid this place. Sully would be a prize. A doctor would definitely be drafted into the military.
She walked out of the cabin and into the store. A man stood deep in conversation with Mimi, their voices lowered and hushed.
“Hey, Mimi. Jem said your son was looking for me?”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about this military unit you ran into,” the man turned and looked at Ella.
Dr. Sully was attractive. That was the first thing that ran through Ella’s mind. Looking to be around her age, he was about her height, broad shouldered, and rough-looking. He didn’t fit her idea of the typical doctor. His hair was brown and shoulder length, and the slight stubble added to his appeal. He looked like he’d stepped out of an advertisement for some manly cologne or a cigarette commercial. Rugged and handsome—Dr. Sully probably made the girls swoon. His white tee shirt molded the muscles in his arms, and the raggedy jeans only added to his character. He looked more like a mechanic or a construction worker than a doctor.
“The first thing you need to do is to go out to the road and take down that sign and any other signs that announce your presence here,” Ella told him vehemently.
“Hold up, now,” he replied, walking over to her.
“Listen, I was held prisoner by this man, and my friend was tortured by him. He has around a hundred people following him, and he wants more. You won’t have any choice. He’ll make you enlist in his army. He’ll make anyone here that can shoot enlist in his army,” Ella said, pacing back and forth.
“So, he’s enacting a draft?” Sully questioned.
“Yes and those who oppose him are imprisoned, tortured, and I heard some of the solder’s saying he kills deserters.”
“Well, I guess there’s no choice. I won’t leave my mother here alone. I guess I better take some paint and cover up that sign,” he stated, walking down the hardware row and grabbing a can of paint and a paintbrush.
“I’ll come with you,” Ella stated. She wanted to get a look around and see if there was any sign of Adams.
The two, along with Amos, jumped in the red convertible and made their way out to the main road. The first stop was at the end of the road where Sully collected
the sign pointing to the trading post. They traveled down the road a ways and pulled off in front of the billboard. Sully climbed the sign’s post and painted over the part giving directions to the store. This took about 30 minutes of hard labor as Ella and Amos stood guard below.
Finally, Sully climbed down panting and sweating with exertion. Pulling a handkerchief out of his back pocket, he wiped the sweat from his face.
“Well, I don’t know if that was the right thing to do, but if this guy is as bad as you say he is, then I definitely want no part of his greed-driven agenda,” Sully stated, walking toward the car with Ella and Amos.
Just as the three were set to get in the car, the throbbing sound of helicopter blades came from the distance. Ella looked at Amos and ordered him into the forest that ran alongside the road. The three ran and hid among the trees as the helicopter came into view. As if sensing the three were there, the helicopter landed on a barren patch of the pavement.
Four men garbed in military uniform jumped from the aircraft, Ella recognizing Adams from a distance. She hoped they wouldn’t come this way. What was he doing still along this road? She’d left the farm two weeks after he’d burned it. She figured he’d be farther along the route to Nevada by now.
She walked quietly over to Amos, holding her finger up to her lips. She silently led the big man up to a dense thicket of shrubs where she motioned for him to hide. Sully had followed along with her.
“This is the bad guy—Adams I was talking about. I don’t know why he’s out there, but let’s just hope he doesn’t find the trading post or notice the wet paint. I’m going to make my way closer, but Amos, I want you to stay here. If something happens to me, I want you to run. Promise?” She looked the big man in the eyes as she whispered the words.
“I don’t want nothing to happen to you, Miss Ella,” the big man whispered.
“I don’t either, but if it does, I need your word,” she smiled.
“Okay,” he whispered back in resignation.
“I’m going with you,” Sully whispered, unsheathing his handgun.
“Okay, let’s go.”
The two stealthily made their way back to the road and ran for an abandoned car where they hid from view. They were literally within 100 feet of the group.
“Is there any sign of Parker or the woman?” Adams ordered as one of his men came running up.
“Not really sir. There are several cars in the area with Tennessee license plates, but that means nothing.”
“Did you check inside of them for evidence?” Adams asked, scanning the area where Ella and Sully were hidden.
“Yes sir. There was nothing to indicate either of them had been in the vehicle,” the officer replied.
Ella knew she and Sully were taking a chance being this close, but it was almost dark and the shadows made it hard to see. She just wanted to see if she could get an update on Adam’s plans. She assumed Parker was safe since Adams was searching—at least he as safe from Adams. She didn’t know if Parker had survived the infected or not.
“Okay, let’s head back. We’ll have the men pack up in the morning and come on through this way. We’ll continue this road through Missouri and into Kansas. I know it’s an off chance, but Parker may have taken this road. We’ll just need to pick up the pace. I want to overtake him before he gets to Nevada. I want those codes, so he doesn’t have a chance to use them.”
“So, are we going to be moving all of the men with us?” the officer questioned.
“Yes, we’ll need all of them and more. Any able bodied man you find, detain and bring to me. Make sure everyone else knows that as well. The draft has been enacted, men; you’re doing nothing wrong by making sure these citizens serve their country,” Adams announced as he made his way back to the helicopter.
Ella thought about just standing up and shooting the man. If she went ahead and killed him, then this would be done--finished. What was that about cutting the snake’s head off and the rest of the body would die? Or something like that. It wasn’t her style, though. She couldn’t kill a man in cold blood. Plus, his group would probably take both she and Sully out, and Sully didn’t deserve to die for something with which he wasn’t involved.
So, instead, she watched as Adams jump back into the helicopter. She just hoped when they were marching by in the morning no one made his way down the lane to Mimi’s store.
After the helicopter vanished, she and Sully retrieved Amos, and drove back to the farm where Sully called a meeting among the men and women living there.
“So, we have it on good authority, and I heard it from the horse’s mouth that a contingent of soldiers will be marching along the road in the morning sometime. They will impress any able bodied man they find into service for the army. Now, if this is something you want, then feel free to join them. I can’t stop you. But, if this is something you don’t want, we’ll need to take precautions—just in case, they happen to find their way down this road.” Sully announced to the group.
“What’s impress mean, Miss Ella?” Amos questioned, looking puzzled. The big man was pretty literate when it came to his vocabulary, but there were still some things he didn’t know.
“It means they’ll take you by force and make you become a soldier,” Ella explained, and upon seeing his worried look, she continued, “That won’t happen to you. I’ll die before I let it.”
Satisfied with her promise, Amos went outside and started playing tag with a couple of the children who seemed at ease with the big, black man.
“So, what are we going to do? Does he have weapons?” Someone in the group shouted.
“Ella, can you take that question?” Sully asked.
“Yes, he has any and all kinds of weapons. That includes tanks and at least one helicopter. He’s not averse to taking what he wants. My father and I had a similar setup to this, and he burned it to the ground after he ransacked it. I’d say the best bet is to hide in the mountains and wait for him to pass by. If he finds this place and burns it or takes what he wants, at least you’ll be alive.”
“We can stay and fight!” Another person yelled.
“I’m telling you he has around a hundred men with him. He’ll kill you. There’s not enough people here to fight.” Ella stood and walked out the door. If this group wanted to fight, they could go ahead. She knew there was a time to fight and a time to retreat. This was the time to retreat. She was relieved to know her friends hadn’t been captured by Adams. That didn’t mean they were okay, but at least it was some relief.
She walked outside and met up with Jem and Amos. She looked at them wearily. What had been meant as a pleasurable side trip had turned into an escape for their lives.
“I’m just wondering if we should head out and try to outrun Adams and his army, or if we should bide our time and follow behind him or go around him,” Ella mused as she walked with Amos and Jem to the cabin where they’d stored their belongings earlier.
“Well, if we leave now, we can get a head start, but then we’ll never know if these people were safe or not,” Jem rationalized.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t feel good about leaving them, and if we need to fight, I guess three more is better than nothing,” Ella replied.
They retrieved their belongings and waited outside patiently to see what Sully and his mother had decided. Sully eventually came out and informed them of their decision to retreat into the mountains until the military unit passed by. There were a couple of camps that Sully and his father had used for hunting when he was a young boy, and he thought the people would be safe there. But, Sully had decided he would stay and keep a lookout.
The next hour or so was spent boarding up the store and the house and making it look as abandoned as possible in case any scouts from the military stumbled onto the place. After that, Mimi rounded everyone up into all of the available four wheel drive vehicles. Ella had a hard time convincing Amos to go without her, but she knew it was for the best. It was hard for a man that big to hide. Ella had decide
d she would stay with Sully and keep a lookout. She wanted to see how many people Adams had with him and what kind of weapons he was in possession of.
The two made their way out to the road about a quarter of a mile ahead of the sign that Sully had repainted. By this time, it was close to four in the morning. She wondered how long they would have to wait. Sully had brought a long range, hand held radio and was keeping in contact with his mother who’d already made her way to the hunting camp.
She and Sully took a seat on a small rock bluff overlooking the road.
“I imagine you’re probably tired. You should get some sleep,” Ella said, noting the shadows under the man’s eyes.
“Yeah, I’m tired. All day yesterday was spent looking for medical supplies. People have ransacked the pharmacies and hospitals. But, I’m used to making do,” he replied.
“How’s that?” Ella asked.
“I’ve volunteered with Doctors Without Borders ever since I was accepted in medical school. I do it every summer. I had just finished my residency and moved back home when the outbreaks began.”
“That’s awesome. I was in the military for a while, but I opted out to come home and be with my folks—I don’t regret it,” Ella volunteered.
“What kind of specialty are you?” she asked.
“Family medicine—I always wanted to come back here and be a small town doctor,” Sully smiled.
“Oh, the reason I ask is that you’re the first doctor I’ve come across other than Jem, and I have some papers my brother sent me. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t understand them. They have something to do with this whole mess.” Ella knew she was taking a chance confiding in Sully since she didn’t really know him, but she had no clue about Eli’s research. Also, Sully hadn’t given her a reason to distrust him so far. In fact, he’d trusted her wholeheartedly with his people’s welfare.
“I’ll be happy to look at them. What kind of doctor was he?” Sully asked curiously.
“You know, I’m not even sure. Isn’t that crazy? All, I know is that he was into research, specifically vaccines. It was his vaccine that caused all of this,” Ella replied, relieved that she’d finally told someone about her brother’s part in this mess.