That morning I woke early, around five and slipped out of bed, grabbing my pistols and a shotgun. I needed some dinner for Sarah and I and I knew where we could get some duck. It was interesting to see how the wildlife reacted to the diminished presence of man. The area around our home was still lacking in major wildlife but the woods were either filling with animals or they were becoming bolder when not under threat of becoming dinner. Deer were a common thing to see walking through neighborhoods even when there were people around and so I figured that they would start to mass in areas like the overgrown fields of the schools and the parks. “Hey Thomas,” I called to the roof.
“Hey James. What are you doing up so early?”
“I’ve got a little hunting to do. Don’t worry about any shots you hear.”
“You got it.”
“Alright, take it, easy man.”
“Will do.”
I shouldered my shotgun and started down the driveway. To shoot some duck all I had to do was walk across the highway, through the woods to Cathlamet Bay and wait. Usually, you would either use a small boat or a blind to help hide from the ducks, which I didn’t have, so I hoped the camo gear I slipped on before leaving would do the job. I also didn’t have a boat or a dog to retrieve the animals so I was stuck with taking a swim if I got anything. The water was calm and deep enough to swim in but it would be cold. I sat next to the water, moving as little as possible, and waited for about twenty minutes before a small flock of birds splashed down within range of my gun. I waited until they settled and took a long slow breath. I wanted at least two birds so I picked my target and got ready to aim into the swarm when then took off after the first shot. I had only been duck hunting once in my life when I was pretty young and all I remember is falling asleep. I squeezed the trigger multiple times and raised my sights with the fleeing birds. I was able to take out two decent sized birds and located them as they floated in the water. I sighed as started to pull off my clothes. The water would be cold enough without getting my clothes soaked as well. I waded out into the water until it was about waist deep. The worst part about getting into cold water is getting past the waist. I took a deep breath and dove in, heading in the general direction of my birds. I snagged the birds with little trouble and swam back to shore. Climbing up onto the bank I was shivering as I threw the birds on the ground. “Fuck” I muttered as I realized that I had forgotten to bring a towel. I shook off some of the water like a dog and pulled weeds out of my hair. After dressing I crouched down next to the bank and pulled out my knife. I cut the wings and the feet off and began plucking feathers out of the still warm ducks. After getting most of the feathers and down off I tied the birds to my waist and headed home. Back at the house I stashed the ducks and boiled a large pot of water on the grill outside. While I waited for the water to boil I filled a bucket with cold water and pulled out a box of candles. Normally paraffin wax is used to pluck a duck but I would have to make do with what I had. I melted the wax in the water and, using the ducks head as a handle, I dipped each one in the pot. I quickly dunked the ducks in the cold water, hardening the wax. I then proceeded to peel the wax off the duck like an orange skin. The rest of the down came off with the wax and I finished prepping the ducks by removing the head, tail, and innards. Leaving the ducks outside I went in and washed up, snagging some plastic bags I went back outside. Packing the ducks into the bags I put them in my pack and drove to the spot I had ventured to the day before. I put the ducks somewhere where they would stay cold and double-timed it back to the house. As I walked inside I was greeted by nearly the entire house as they were all up, eating and getting ready for the day. “Morning,” I said to everyone.
“Have another farm you wanted to check out?” asked Sarah sarcastically, her arms folded across her chest.
“Nope. Just had some things I had to take care of,” I said smiling at her. She harrumphed and walked away.
The day seemed to drag on slowly. I limited the number of hours that we spent digging the storage because I did want to be dead tired that night. We wrapped up work around three or so and after changing I went outside to sit. Inside was loud and crowded and I felt like being alone. I sat in a lawn chair, tilted my head skyward and closed my eyes. I wasn’t alone for long before I heard a small voice say, “James?”
I opened my eyes to find Liz looking worried that she might have bothered me “What’s up Liz?”
“Well, earlier you said you would teach me how to shoot a bow. Do you think we could do that since we’re not working on the storage? I mean, if you’re up to it.”
I smiled and stood, “Sure I am. Come on,” I said putting my arm around her and walking inside. We went to my room and grabbed the bow I used to use when I was twelve. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as my current bow but if I maxed out the resistance it could still be lethal. “Here, try to pull this back.”
She held up the bow and grabbed the string with her entire hand. She pulled back and was able to pull the string about a third of the way back before having to stop. “It’s too hard.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll dial it back a bit,” I said taking the bow back. Once I had switched out the weights I handed it back to her. She pulled back until the string lost its resistance and reach its maximum draw. “Better?”
“Yes, much.”
“Good. Go ahead and easy the string back into place. You don’t ever want to let the string go without an arrow knocked. Let’s go shoot some targets.”
We walked outside and to the shooting range. I went through basics of how to shoot a bow, how to aim, to take into account the drop of the arrow and the various elemental influences. I told her how to use her back and shoulder muscles to do most of the work, rather than just her arm muscles. The last part I explained was the most difficult. “What does the target look like to you?”
“Like a little white dot,” she said obviously.
“Ok well try to bring it closer?”
“What?”
“When you’re aiming, hold your shot until the only thing you see is your target. Let it fill your vision and then let loose. I can’t teach you how to do this. It wasn’t really even taught to me or even explained really. It’s just something I learned to do.”
“Ok…” she said hesitantly.
“Just give it a shot,” I said smiling, “but put your arm guard on first, otherwise, you’ll get a nice red welt on your forearm.”
She slipped on the guard, knocked and arrow and took aim. She held the knocked arrow for a long time before letting go. The arrow flew wide and struck the clay hill behind the target. “Dang,” she said.
“Don’t worry, just try again.”
She knocked an arrow and shot again. This time, the arrow struck the target on the outer edge, “I hit it,” she said enthusiastically.
“Good job. Now try to dial in your aim. Correct it in small increments.”
“Ok.”
We spent the next twenty minutes bringing her slowly to the center, and while she would usually strike outside the center circle, she was getting better. We would have kept at it but her arms weren’t used to the strain and she got tired quickly. “Good job,” I said as we walked inside, “You’ve made a lot of improvement.”
“Yeah but I can’t figure out your whole calling the target thing.”
“Don’t worry about that. You might not be able to do it. I just might be weird.”
“Ok, well thanks for teaching me,” she said handing me back the bow.
I shook my head, “No, you keep it. It’s yours now. Practice whenever you want, just be careful.”
“Thank you so much,” she said hugging me.
I smiled, “It’s not a big deal.”
She walked away grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. I smiled again and went back to my room. Inside I found Sarah sitting on my bed just waiting for me. “Well, hello.”
“Hey. So when are you going to show me where you’ve been going?”
I looked at my watch to chec
k the time it was getting close to five. “In a while.”
“What’s awhile?”
“It’s like a little bit only more,” I said grinning at her.
“Shut up. When are we going to go?” she asked, pouting.
I laughed when I saw her lip sticking out. She looked so damn cute like that. “An hour and a half,” I said smiling.
“But that’s so long,” she said whining.
“You’re just going to have to have some patience.”
“You know I don’t have that.”
“True, but you’re just going to have to suffer through.”
“Fine.”
“Hey, it’ll be worth the wait.”
“It better be.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Or what?”
“Or I’ll beat you up,” she said raising her fist.
“Well, I don’t want that.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Just trust me ok.”
“Ok.”
I smiled and left her sitting there. I spent an hour or so walking around thinking about everything I had set up and wondering if I had forgotten anything. I shook my head to clear it and decided that I had done everything I could think of and there was no point worrying about it. I climbed the ladder to the roof. “Hey,” I said to Jason.
“Hey, man. What’s up?”
“Not much. Just wanted to let you know that Sarah and I will be gone till tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah? Where are you two headed?”
“The whole Adam thing has her down so we’re going to spend some time together.”
“I got you, man. Don’t worry, we’ve got everything under control around here. You two have fun,” he said grinning at me like an idiot.
“Don’t be stupid,” I said punching him in the shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said still grinning, “But seriously, don’t worry about us. We got this.”
“I know you do.”
Time went quickly as we sat on that roof, we didn’t need to say anything. What was there to say? We were both ready for the raid on the library and neither of us had anything new to say to each other. We were both content for the time being and so all we did was sit. I glanced at my watch and sighed “Alright man, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t let the others worry ok.”
“Yeah, no worries.”
I climbed down and went inside to get Sarah. I didn’t have to look very far, she was already standing by the door, pack in hand. I smiled and took her by the hand. “Come on, let’s go. I’ve been waiting for you,” I winked. She rolled her eyes and walked with me to the truck. As she climbed into the passenger seat I offered her a blindfold. She raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Just put it on.”
She took it and slipped it over her eyes saying, “James, I didn’t know you were into this kind of thing.”
I laughed and said, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
It was her turn to laugh, “Is that so?”
“It might be,” I said starting the engine, “It might be.”
We drove down the highway and turned off onto the logging road. I kicked the truck into four wheel drive and bounced down the worn road. “I take it we’re not going to town,” she said smiling.
“Nope, far from it.”
“Interesting.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Well obviously,” she said gesturing at her blindfold.
I laughed, “Oh yeah.”
“Are we almost there?”
“Nope,” I said throwing the truck into park, “We’re already there.” She reached up to pull off the blindfold, “Not yet.”
“Gah. I hate you.”
I smiled and got out of the truck. I walked around to her side and opened the door. I took her hand and said, “Come on. We got a small walk ahead of us.”
“How am I supposed to walk?” she asked stepping down from the truck.
“Well, do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go. I won’t let you fall.” I took her hand and led her into the woods. The first time I came out here I had plotted a path that was fairly clear of any hazards Sarah might run into.
“Are we there yet?” she asked a final time.
“Yep we’re here,” I said pointing her in a specific direction.
“Oh thank God,” she said whipping off the blindfold. The next thing that came out of her mouth was a gasp. She looked out across a small lake with a tent set up close by and the sun setting in the distance. The clouds were painted a beautiful gold and the reflection could be seen on the surface of the lake, “I knew you were up to something.”
“Nothing gets past you.”
“Nope.”
“How did I manage to hide my feelings for you for so long?”
She laughed, “You couldn’t.”
“Was I that obvious?”
“Oh yeah.”
“What do you think?”
“James, it’s beautiful.”
I smiled and wrapped my arms around her, whispering softly, “Not as beautiful as you. Come on.”
We walked to the tent and she sat down. The first thing I did was light the fire I had prepared earlier and pulled two plastic bags out of the water. “What’s that?” she asked.
“Dinner.”
“What are you making?”
“Duck.”
“Where did you…” and then it dawned on her, “Earlier this morning when you left?”
“Yeah, I snagged these two,” All she did was shake her head.
I seasoned the ducks and started a small propane powered camping grill. Once the grill was hot I placed one on to cook and hung the other over the fire. The one on the grill would cook sooner and by the time we were done with it the second one would be ready. As the food cooked and the air filled with a delicious aroma we sat in our chairs and looked out across the lake at the sunset. We talked of little things, we joked and we held hands. We didn’t speak of Walkers, of Luke or Adam. We avoided everything that would have broken the spell that we had managed to weave around ourselves, our tent and our lake. For a short time, we were the only two people in the world and we didn’t have a single thing to worry about.
We ate our duck, some mashed potatoes and for desert, we had blackberries and sugar. I had made a trip in the woods around the lake and found a large patch of them growing about eighty yards away. After dinner we lay on a blanket, looking at the stars. We pointed out constellations and even made up a few of our own. We saw a few satellites traversing the night sky and managed to glimpse a shooting star or two. We spent the rest of the night together. I won’t be going into detail because, while I am willing to share much of my life with you, my dear reader, it stands, as a rule, a gentlemen never kisses and tells. The next morning we woke early to watch the sunrise. It wasn’t as good as the sunset, some trees were blocking our initial view but it was still fantastic, mostly because Sarah was there.
As I started to break down the tent Sarah asked, “Do we have to go back?”
I smiled, “Unfortunately.”
“I don’t want to,” she pouted.
I laughed and walked over to where she stood. Putting my arms around her I asked, “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you look when you pout?” She shook her head, “Well you do,” I said kissing her.
We broke camp and I stashed the gear a short way into the woods, covering it with a sturdy tarp. We might want to come out here again and I didn’t want to haul everything back and forth.
As I finished putting the last thing away I saw Sarah standing in front of the lake, just looking off into the distance. I walked over to her and said, “Come on, we have to go.”
She turned and looked at me, “Thank you, James. I never said it before. Thank you for everything,” she said hugging me.
“For you Sarah, I’d do anything,” I kissed her one last time before we climbed back into the truck and made our way down the rocky
, bumpy logging road.
CHAPTER 25
Back at home, I was glad to see that no one said anything about Sarah and I being gone. Everyone was up and getting ready for the raid that day. There wasn’t a lot that needed to be done, just basic packs and weapons. “Alright,” I called out, “who’s going?” Hands went up and I saw that everyone but Christina and Michelle was ready to go. We decided to go after lunch and I used the spare time to take a quick nap. Getting up to see the sunset was romantic and all but I was tired and felt like sleeping. I kicked my boots off and climbed under my covers. I closed my eyes and heard my door open. “You’re tired too?” I mumbled into my pillow.
Survivors Series (Book 1): Heroes Aren't Born Page 38