by Francis Bate
“Daddy! You’re my daddy!” His son exclaimed in a cheery voice hugging him in return. “Only my daddy does those tricks. I want more,” he added beaming at him on a happy face.
“We’ll do that later. The olds just need to have a talk, okay?” The kid glanced at the women and he nodded in expectation. He stayed silent beside his dad playing with his car toy on the wooden bench.
Eyeing them, he was waiting for their answer, hesitation crowded their faces. They were pointing fingers who to relate the story and opened her mouth for her statement.
“Since that day, we never slept well thinking of you. Until it happened that we needed to leave to avoid the burglars and the threats we have been receiving from the people. We went to ask for help from the government but they spared nothing, not even food to eat or water to drink,” Kelly started relating the story to him as he listened intently. “One day, we heard that they sent armies into the city to take us out from here. I thought of you. I thought that what if you were taken in custody. I said I have to think because you might come home and you might not find us here.”
Kelly bowed her head and let out a deep sigh. He felt the sadness running through her nerves that emotionally affected her throughout the duration of the event. Lifting her chin to meet his eyes, Jarvis rubbed her cheeks and kissed it. She gained more courage to continue her story.
“We stayed for another week and Mr. Daniels has to check on us every day. It was going well; we were supplied with enough supplies from him. And finally, we decided to go with the others because we might find you in the refugee camps. We were packing our things when we heard gunshots from afar. Mr. Daniels came running to our house delivering the news that we need to leave because the federation has set down military power to rule the city.”
“Many lives died and much more are dying today. We were led here with a promise that no one will find us,” his mother stated.
“Not until this stops, we need to be extra careful and vigilant. We are not sure what waits in the dark,” Jarvis said, remembering the events they have gone through.
“We just hope we will never experience it again. I don’t want you away from us anymore, Jarvis,” said his wife retaining the soft look on her face.
He nodded assuring them and took a step kissing their heads. When the conversation dried up, he watched his son independently ate his own food. Every bite he made, he would occasionally look at his dad.
Kelly stood up from her seat and went inside the tent. She came back holding a plastic folder on her hand. Sitting beside him, she handed the object to him and watched as he opened it carefully.
Jarvis was nervous with what might be in it but he bore the courage to peek through it. Baby images were printed on the covers of the books inside as he carefully removed from the folder.
He took the baby book and opened it from the first page. He went through it and stopped at the latest ultrasound image of their baby. Rubbing the photo with his finger, he thought that was the last check-up she had. He was in mixed emotions as he thought of how he will provide the needs of his family.
Kelly told him that she had her check-up the day after he left and was scheduled for another but she wasn’t able to attend to due to some circumstances.
Pulling her into his arms, he gave her a tight hug before he kissed the tiny life inside her. It wiggled, kicking him from the inside as they laughed, kissing the tension away.
Jarvis remembered the supplies he received from the old man from last night and gave it to her. With a hopeful heart, he smiled at the image of a new addition to their family tree.
While he was marching along a trail, Stan realized that he has already reached the Farles Lake. He scanned the area but all he could see was the darkness surrounding him. He continued walking until he saw a reddish hue producing smoke from it. A group of people glanced at him when they have felt a presence of an intruder.
Three men stood up, making him halt, as he watched them edge towards his place. He was greeted with the scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke in their breaths. There were two women left on the campfire accompanied by another man.
“Well, well, well. Look what we got here,” a man in his forties spoke. He stood more intimidating from the rest of the people around him. His facial hair has grown and Stan could see a knife hanging on his waist.
“An intruder or a guest, what do you think?” Another man exclaimed, inspecting him. He walked in a circle with Stan in the middle like a compass on a piece of paper.
“What do you need? How did you find this place?” He heard another man say. He could not determine who spoke as he was busy assessing the place and planning his escape.
“The trail led me here and I was just on my way home to my family. I didn’t know someone was here,” he responded in a cool voice.
Stan placed his hands in his behind pockets, avoiding their gazes. The flame lit the face of one man showing a smirk on it.
“Do you think we’re buying that shit? Damn it! We weren’t born yesterday so tell us, how’d you find our base? Are you with the asshole armies or are you a spy?” The man growled at him, grabbing him by the collar.
Stan stared at him seeing anger and desperation in his eyes. He pulled out his hands from his pockets revealing some weeds to them.
The men were taken aback and stared at him. They took the weeds from his hands and led him into the campfire. Although he was feeling hesitant, he remained cordial, going with the flow.
“The federation is recruiting men to join them,” the woman with a short hair exclaimed.
“Nah, recruiting is an understatement. They are coercing the people to join. Join or you’ll die, it’s your choice,” the man answered back.
They took some weeds and lit it. When Stan rejected the offer, they got mad at him, throwing curses and nudging his stomach. He took a hit and continued planning how to flee.
“I don’t fuckin’ understand why those bastards have to enlist more people. They have killed a lot so what’s the point of adding more troops, right?”
“Yea, they don’t have too many people to guard now, do they? Or are they planning a war against the people?” Stan was taken aback with that theory.
Although it was just a wild guess, it felt real and odd. What if it wasn’t just a theory after all?
The idea dawned on him the rest of the minutes.
When Stan has seen them a bit tipsy, he took the opportunity to execute his plan.
I’m just going to piss,” he announced enough for them to hear but they could barely hear the noise they were creating.
Stan stood from his seat and lifted his packs with his hands, taking a dark path. He went straight, hearing the merriments they were making. Hoisting his packs on his back, he ran a mile from the camp until he reached back the trail on the west side.
At the edge of it, he saw the road and followed it again. After walking an extra mile, he searched for a place to pass the night and decided to continue his journey in the morning. Stan saw a secluded area covered with trees and tall bushes serving as his covers. He went inside it and set the place for him to rest.
Without eating that night, he chose to sleep his hunger and just grab some food the following day.
The next morning after breakfast, he hit the road until he was able to reach Blue Sink. As he was passing through it, an oval-shaped pool came into his sight. The water was crystal blue coming out of a spring. He took out his water containers and bent as he refilled the containers with him.
Stan drank from it emptying one container and refilled it with water again. As he was refilling, the air was filled with sirens accompanied by small-arms gunshot sounds.
He was caught off guard releasing the container from his grip. He took it again and filled until it was full.
While he was packing his things, a helicopter came into his view as it flew up into the sky. The reverberating sound it has produced scattered around the place. Stan thought it was after someone and when it faded from his sight,
he continued to keep traversing.
The road was once again his companion. Walking for a few more miles, it took him some hours to reach another town.
It felt like home when he reached Pittman. After how many weeks of being away from home, Stan almost knelt and kissed the ground.
He sprinted through the road feeling the air of happiness in his skin. Although it felt different, he was still happy to finally able to reach his homeland.
While walking, he came across a man lifting some things on his hands. The man looked at him and smiled in surprise at Stan.
“Oh shit, man,” the man looked at him with wide eyes. “Welcome back! What happened to you, man? The whole town has gone crazy looking for you!”
“Jack, my man!” Stan offered him a manly hug and he returned his gesture. “Long story, man. How’s my wife and kids?”
“I haven’t heard from them yet, man. But do you wanna come in my house?”
Stan decided to take some hours to spend with him to gather further information about the situation in their hometown. Jack, his long-time friend, led him into his house and offered him some beverage to cool him down.
“What’s the situation here? How’s everything?” Stan asked, fixing his chair and grabbed the soda he was offering.
“It’s worse than before man. Although we could still go out occasionally, we were advised to stay at home all the times. I don’t know in your area, I heard it was worse than here,” Jack responded, shaking his head off.
“How about the looting, theft, and other crimes?” Stan asked. He took the can of soda and opened it. Bubbles went off its mouth producing a sound and he took a sip out of it.
“If it happened in other towns, it also happened here. That’s why the government has issued an order to stabilize the situation,” he heard him answer. He looked at the sky and the sun was still in its place, making the whole atmosphere burn with its blaze.
Chris reached the mouth of the Suwannee River where they docked their boat. They stepped out of the boat after anchoring it. As they strode along the area, Drew saw an opened stall nearby. It was the lone room that was opened.
It stood along the road at the edge of the river. The broken window told them that it has not absconded from thieves.
Drew asked the others and led them into the small hardware store.
“Hello? Is anybody here?” Drew called out, scanning the area.
The three men were behind him, touching every object that lined along the way. A slightly-built man revealed himself from a separating door.
“Hey, my name is Glen. What can I do for you?” The man stated in surprise.
“Oh, finally after how many days, I’m able to talk to other people aside from these three,” Drew exclaimed. “What do we have here?”
They checked the area and different supplies were available on it.
“Why are you open? You’re the only store that opened despite the situation,” Malcolm tapped the window frame lightly and paid a glance at the man behind the cash register.
“As you can see, I’m still trying to repair the door closer. Marauders have ruined it the other day and so I had to open it that way,” he said, pointing at the door. “Do you need anything? Just look around, you can have it for free.”
“Why are you giving these for free?” Malcolm asked, glancing at the supplies around the store.
“Why, do you have money with you? For the record, machines don’t work so I could not swipe your cards.”
Malcolm shook his head, receiving a chuckle from behind. He was sure where it was coming from. Casting his ‘whatever-look’, he grabbed some supplies and placed it in a basket.
“How’s the situation here?” Chris asked while checking some things on the sideboard.
Glen stared at each of them as if recalling something from the past.
“Some DHS agents came here the other day and they were looking for four people,” Glen creased his brows and looked at their faces. “Are you the people they are looking for?”
The four men exchanged looks and turned their gazes at him. At the back of their minds, they knew what he was talking about. Glen took a step closer, eyeing at them conspicuously and suddenly cracked up at their reaction.
With an eye of confusion, they watched him as he laughed out loud. But before he could laugh, even more, Nick covered his mouth with his hand muffling him.
“Your facial reactions were hilarious! You should have seen your faces, you looked nervous,” he said clutching at his stomach. Suddenly, the air was filled in silence and his face became somber.
“Did they tell you why they are looking for us?” Drew asked rubbing his chin with his thumb.
“So, you really are those people?” Glen exclaimed in surprise.
They nodded taking it as a cue to pull them inside a room. He peered through the window and stepped out to close the door of his small store. Walking back to the room, the four men were already sitting on a lounge.
“Can you tell us what they told you? Tell us what you’ve talked about,” Chris said, glancing at him.
“They came here looking for people so that means they were looking for you. Uh, they didn’t actually come in my store but I heard them talk about you. According to them, you are armed and dangerous deemed not to be trusted. But with what’s happening, I don’t think you’re the ones whom I shouldn’t trust,” Glen said.
“So, they are really after us,” Nick sighed and bowed his head.
“They said they have started to guard every corner of the place even the waters. But as you may know, you may run into them in this place because they have strictly patrolled the town. I heard not only this town. May I know why they are accusing you as traitors?”
“We have turned down their order to obey their own-made laws. The day after the event, we were called and briefed to observe every city and prevent any chaos. But a few days later, the order shifted suddenly, making us fight against them,” Drew stated clearly.
“We’re going out for a moment. We have to check the town for supplies. Malcolm will stay here with you for communication. We need someone to communicate with. Will you cooperate with us?” Chris stared at Glen and Malcolm.
They were both stupefied with his question but managed to nod.
After getting the supplies they need and some information from Glen, Drew and Nick stepped out to check on the boat as well as to put the supplies in it. Nick suggested refilling the gas tank of their craft. They were finished doing their job when Chris asked them to go with him into the other stores.
Walking through it, they reached the far edge near the road when they tried to open another stall full of supplies and they were able to go in. It was quite far from Glen’s store but they planned to gather all the supplies at once.
As Nick edged towards the door, it opened exposing two men standing in front of the door.
The brawny camouflaged men straightened in alert pointing their guns toward him.
“Look what we got here, mate,” the man with a cap stated glancing at the man behind him. “We looked for you over many places and you are just hiding in this place? Fuck it, mate! You’ve wasted so much of our time. Where are your friends?”
Nick glanced over at them studying their faces. Through their eyes, he could see the desperation in them. Confused, Drew peered through the door where Nick was standing. Two new faces appeared to his sight.
“Oh goodness gracious, today’s our lucky day! There are two of them here. Raise your hands up and face the ground,” the man ordered in a stern voice. He pointed the muzzle of his gun on Nick’s head threatening to pull the trigger.
“What a surprise! The DHS sec really sent you here to capture us, I’m amazed!” Drew said in a loud voice, alerting his friend inside. “What do you need?”
Chris straightened from his place and paced towards the door. He stopped when he saw his friends as if talking to someone. He heard them loud and clear. He peeked through a hole and saw two armed men confronting
Nick and Drew.
“They were right; you really are the tough guys, huh. Let’s see if you could still have that bravery in you once I shoot you with my toy. It doesn’t matter which part but I can’t take your arrogance as an excuse,” he said with a smirk but Drew just laughed it out.
“If it’s my time, why do I have to fear?” Drew responded with a shrug.
“Then, why are you escaping? You should face the consequences of your actions, traitors.” Nick and Drew stared at each other as if planning something in their heads.
“Allow us to do the job of making you suffer first before you die. Have something to confess?” The other man challenged, painting the same smirk on his face.
“It must have been really difficult for you to track our whereabouts. But let me compliment you for it because this might be the last time you’ll hear those compliments,” Drew said in a calm voice.
“Yea, you’re right mate. This would be the first and last time we’ll hear compliments from you,” the men chuckled.
Chris listened to the conversation but it seemed like they were in a staring contest. He opened the back window of the room and passed through it. It led him outside. He walked around and went behind the intruders with his gun on his grip.
“You talk too much. Put your gun down and tell us what you need,” Chris exclaimed angling the gun on one man’s head. “I know you fear death so let’s make this simple and concise.”
Nick stared at the man as he held the gun pointed at his head and took it away from him. He then pointed the gun onto the other man in front of him.
“I tell you, his men will still come running after you and they’ll make sure that they will kill you in an instant,” the man answered back, trying to turn his back to meet the newcomer.