by catt dahman
“This is Henry. We are here to see Hannah and Ponce,” Henry called out.
“We’re from Port A.” He stood outside a truck and called to the people who
hid behind the walls.
Once, everyone had been welcome, but now, everything had changed. He
made sure they could see his face.
“What do you want with them?” the man asked.
“Hannah’s sister and friends are with me; we want to spend time with her,
Fool.” He wasn’t about to back down or to be scared of younger, inexperienced
guards. Mainly, he wanted to see if he could bully them a little. An old man had to get his fun where he found it.
The man glared but whispered to a friend who ran toward the farmhouse.
“We’ll check it.”
“You do that.”
In a few minutes, several people appeared, and there were more questions. Stevie, exasperated, called out, “Hannah? It’s Stevie.”
“Oh, my God, let them in,” said Hannah as she waited for one of the trucks to be moved; then, she ran out, with people behind her, shouting warnings to her.
She flew toward the caravan. “Stevie?”
“It could have been a trap, Hannah, Jeez. Didn’t you learn anything from Len?”
“I would’ve heard it in your voice,” Hannah said, hugging her sister. “Are
Mom and Dad here? Where are Katie and Georgie?”
“It’s just me. Well, us.”
They were finally welcomed inside the compound and got their first look.
Hannah walked with one arm around Stevie and the other around Lexie. The men who glanced at the girls were quickly put in their places with a frown from
Hannah. The people of Jefferson looked at them curiously and finally warmed up
a little.
“Stop glaring,” Stevie said, “and then they can stop staring at you, girls.
Both of you are so pretty.”
She pointed out the barn and paddock filled with horses and cows, a pen
for pigs and goats, and the yard for chickens.
“Over there are the fruit trees and berries. We tried to model things like
Hopetown.” At the bottom of the hill were some mobile homes that had been
brought in and cabins that they had built.
At the top of the hill was the main house, surrounded by crepe myrtle trees and roses.
“It’s pretty here. It smells good, the grass and flowers,” Lexie said since she
wanted to take in everything at once; there was a lot to observe and wonder about.
“You live here?” Stevie asked, about the big farmhouse.
“Ponce and I do. And we have an office to help us stay organized. Do
you like it? It’s different from the cabins where you live with the ocean right
at your doorsteps.”
Stevie nodded. “I would miss the water, I guess, but it’s a lot prettier here,
real trees and grass.”
Hannah found that funny.
“Inside, it is a lot like it was in the old days. This is where I stayed during my first adventures and when I fell in love with the old-fashioned stuff.”
“That’s cool.”
“It used to be a family home back in the real old days: with cowboys, saloons, and everyone riding horses, the first time, I mean. No electricity or anything else modern; it was like now, but without the zombies.
Later, cars and trucks were here, now, horses again mostly.” Hannah
drew a circle with her fingers. “It’s a cycle.”
She apologized for the less-than-warm welcome but explained that some
of their ways had changed, which made everyone at the compound nervous.
“There’s a military unit, or the makings of one, made up of soldiers from Fort
Sill, Oklahoma. They came to ask me to help them; it seems that my reputation is known in many places. They are still trying to ‘make the United States civilized’ again.”
“We are civilized, well some of us,” Stevie argued. “Why did it take civilization fifteen years? Where were they when people needed them?”
“Not helping us,” Ponce said. “But then we know how Colonel David ended;
the military had old ideas about how to fight back, and the Zs were a new type of
enemy.”
Henry huffed, “Not really. Point and shoot, and don’t run away; that’s what
we do.”
“Yes, but we also were more willing to take chances and break rules,”
Hannah said. “At least that was how I did it.”
“It’s the old idea of gathering everyone and going back to the time before the world changed. They want it right before Year One again,” Ponce added.
“Is that even possible?” Randy asked.
“If they suddenly make all of the Zs vanish, all the rubble go away, and bandits disappear, and well, you get the point, huh? Do we really think there is any way everything could go back to how it was? The lack of electricity, communication, and clean water says it isn’t viable.”
“I was polite, and we received them, but we declined to go to Oklahoma.
They’ve been camped here about two weeks, periodically trying to get us to help them train and share Intel.”
“And we have refused to go with them to their secret underground base;
their plan sounded like a load of bullshit, and we know how things turned out the last time a group of soldiers came around,” John Ponce said to them.
“They were the ones who hurt Dad, Len, and another man?” Stevie asked.
“Different group but still the same in a way. I was with them, you know,
along with Colonel Davis who was misguided and tricked by that nutty Dr.
Diamond,” Ponce added.
“I saw the light. I don’t think some military people can, though; they want a certain order. That was how Colonel Davis was taken over by The Reconstruction Army, sadistic thugs.”
“You saved them,” said Lexie as she hugged Ponce.
“They saved me,” Ponce said. “Beth’s willingness to give me a chance made all the difference.”
Stevie thought about how her father still had the scars from a failed
crucifixion. When he was nervous, he, periodically and subconsciously, rubbed his
scars. “They have a secret underground base? That’s creepy.”
“We don’t know if they do. They want us to go back with them to the base.
They have to have something impressive, however,” Hannah said, “which
means we can’t get past them to go to Hopetown and Zooville without their
trying to get us to go with them.”
“Zooville,” Stevie snickered.
“You try to find a better name then,” Ponce said and laughed.
“Are they insisting you join them?” Henry asked.
“Not yet. And we think we can hold our own. We’ve met with General Cox,
who is pushing for our joining; we’re waiting to see what they do, maybe slink
back….”
“To the secret, underground lair,” Stevie finished for her sister.
“They say they are trying to have a safer base with medicine, but we
don’t want that. We’re doing well here with what we have. It’s crude, maybe, but we don’t answer to a fallen country, either.”
Stevie thought about that. “And we’re civilized anyway,” she said, “what does that mean?”
Hannah knew this answer. “They mean that some of us could be trained to be soldiers. We would be their version of clean and tidy, we would help them, and we would be counted as rebuilding society and as putting the world back like it was before.”
“Do we want that?” Lexie asked.
“Look where it got us,” Hannah explained, “fifteen years ago, our parents fought against being part of that failed world, so they made their own. They trusted themselve
s more than the remains of the military.”
“I still trust us more than I trust them,” Ponce said.
“I doubt they will stop with this settlement.”
“Hopetown told them to shove off, and they had bigger guns,” Hannah said. “I would’ve thought they would have mentioned the zoo, but they didn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to bring it up. They did say that the Zs are massing again and have overrun some settlements.”
“Massing a lot?”
“So the word is. I’ve heard they appear in amounts from five hundred to tens of thousands, and the latter is a rough one to face. The last time we saw that, Man, Juan blew them up,” said Hannah almost choking, remembering her friend, Juan, who had been like a dad to her. “ We got them into the football stadium and blew them up, too.
But they sometimes mass up again and attack places. We could hold five hundred but not several thousand.”
“You’re worried about the zoo? And Hopetown?”
“Yes, I am.”
Ponce added, “And they did mention they wanted to bring Port A ‘into the fold’“.
“Oh, hell, no,” Henry said, “that is not gonna happen.”
“Can you see my dad going along with that? Or Len?” Stevie laughed.
“Come on, and let’s get settled and caught up,” Hannah said.
Ponce gave up his room he shared with Hannah so that Hannah, Lexie, and Stevie could have a kind-of slumber party after they ate that night.
The rest were given comfortable places to sleep and turned in after socializing with the now-friendly people of Jefferson. They had built a community of close to fifty people and had a well-sustained living arrangement.
Lexie and Stevie shared news and gifts from Port A. Hannah almost swooned over the gift of sea salt and fish, rubbing her stomach happily. “She ate an orange, peel and all, enjoying every second of the treat.
“Another baby? Jeez, Lex, Misty just keeps having kids, huh?” Hannah exclaimed.
Lexie, red-faced, nodded. “Maybe this is her last. I’d hate to find a husband and have a baby at the same time she had one.”
“Any ideas on a husband yet?” Hannah teased.
“She stares at Jet all the time,” Stevie told on her friend with a roll of her eyes. “Can you imagine? I would die if she married my brother, but he’s taken, I think.”
Hannah nodded. She knew her adopted brother was the most handsome, smartest, bravest man on earth. What girl wouldn’t stare at him and dream of him? He had grown into a good man, one of the very best.
“He is crazy about Bella. She’s only going to see her friends at the zoo and then is going with us ‘cause I think she’s gonna marry Jet and start having children,” Stevie said. “He would be here, but Dad needed him for some work on some boats.
And Hannah, guess what; Katie, she is twenty now! She’s crazy though; she’s always around Carl, helping him, and he’s so old. I mean Carl????”
“About forty or so.”
“Exactly. Ancient practically.”
“Ponce is way older than I am,” Hannah reminded both girls, but they made gagging motions, and all three dissolved into giggles. “It’s okay that Katie likes Carl. He’s a really good guy. Grown up men are just fine.”
“I may be gay,” Stevie said.
Hannah blinked, “Are you? Do you like a girl?”
“No. I like boys. But I don’t want some ancient man,” Stevie giggled, “and no kids. I wanna be like Mom and be a warrior.”
“She had kids too, goof,” Lexie elbowed Stevie with a laugh. “Hannah has a man and is a warrior.”
“He’d have to be special and very handsome for me,” Stevie said.
Hannah cocked her head to one side. “That’s odd. Stay here; let me go check….” They heard loud noises coming from several places at once. They heard gunfire and shouting.
The door of the room flew open.
It was two-thirty in the morning. The guards awakened John Ponce, so he was brushing away drowsiness but looked alert. “We have visitors. It’s Cox and crew.”
“What do they want?”
“They are coming in, and there’s a shit-load of ‘em, Hannah. They have reinforcements. They got through the front gate and shot a few of our people.”
“Shot them? What the hell? You girls stay here, and stay ready. You can shoot.” Hannah yanked on her clothing and boots and ran out of the door. “Lock it, and stay right here; don’t let anyone in.”
After an initial attempt to get inside the compound, the soldiers (only one of ten were actually military trained before Z day) came to the gate in a line, pushing through.
When guards of the compound raised their guns, the soldiers shot them. Their time of being pleasant was gone, and they actually had a plan and a target, and it wasn’t bringing the people of Jefferson into their camp and making them soldiers or giving them a better life.
Before, their visitation had been only to gather Intel.
Without discussion, visitors and residents alike had begun shooting at the men and women who came into their camp; some scored hits, and some were hit. People darted behind barrels or buildings, but the soldiers kept coming and shooting,
“Get out,” a man yelled.
Colonel Cox motioned with his rifle, “Put down your weapon or die where you stand. We are the United States military and are restoring proper order in this country. You have been warned.”
“Then you know we have the right to bear arms. And besides, dude, you are about fifteen years too late.”
One of the soldiers shot the man.
Hannah stood on the porch of the main house, one hand raised, the other by her side, holding her katana. “Colonel.”
“Hello, Hannah.”
“Gee, the morning would have been better for this, huh?” she responded, not aware of how much she sounded like her mother, father, and Len. Any of the three would have said the same thing.
“It seemed better to have a surprise party.”
“I am indeed surprised.”
“We tried talks; now, we need your surrender,” Cox said.
“Not gonna happen. We wish to remain here and free of military control.”
Cox smirked, “I don’t think you have that choice. I don’t want to hurt anyone else, but the ball is in your court.”
Hannah didn’t know that terminology, but she got the gist of the demand. As she looked around, she saw her people bleeding on the ground or dead.
The Colonel had tricked them and had far more soldiers than she had expected. They were outnumbered, and these soldiers had better weapons, more of them, and more ammo. Her initial thought of not trusting these men was warranted. Too late, but correct. “Just go away. There’s no need for this.”
“You have what we were sent for.”
“We don’t intend to cooperate.”
“Surrender is your only choice. You have a lot of people, dying or dead. We had to use force ‘cause you won’t listen to us.”
“If I surrender, what happens?”
“We’ll relocate you to our base and let you help us understand many things that we are unclear about. We need your experience and knowledge,” Cox said.
“We don’t have hybrids among us, and we haven’t learned much from those we have found. Like everyone else, we want to understand this infection and find a cure. We are the good guys, Hannah.”
“Yeh? The dead, innocent people here kind of disagree.”
“We need you, Hannah. You are a perfect hybrid.”
Hannah felt sick. They wanted hybrids. Again, was it just about her blood? Or about an inoculation she had been given against her will?
“There is no cure. You need Dr. Diamond, but oh, yes, he died, huh? So give it up, okay? It’s all over. Look for his notes if you need a mission.”
“I only have my orders and a bigger picture in my head,” he said as he tapped his temple.
“You don’t have shit in your head,” someone yelled.
&nbs
p; Hannah held her hand up for fear more would be shot.
“Okay, so I help you a while; we cooperate; then, we get to leave and return here? But I don’t think you need all, so most will stay. And our visitors: they go free and can return home. Those are my conditions.”
“Your conditions? We have the advantage, you know.”
“I think you’d rather have me cooperative and docile than pissed off,” Hannah countered.
Jet would have known that look she had in her eyes. As soon as she had the chance, this man was dead. She hoped he knew enough about her to know she was merciless when her back was against a wall like it was now.
“I see,” Cox remarked, “gather your people into those who will go with us--we want you and Ponce and at least eight others, those who will stay, and those who can go home,” Cox announced. “We’ll play your game.”
“I don’t like it,” Ponce yelled.
“I’m sorry, but your opinion doesn’t matter. We could have shot Hannah on sight, but we didn’t.”
He spoke to Hannah quietly, “We fight. Some can get out the back; we can’t agree to this. You know it.”
“They’ll kill everyone.”
“The back is taken,” one of the men from Jefferson, said, “they hit us front and back.”
Ponce angrily came out and dropped his gun. “I’ll get the visitors.”
“And remember, we counted them as they came up here,” Cox said. “Don’t add your people in with them, please. They are the reason we showed up soon as opposed to later.”
In half an hour, the visitors were settled on the wide porch. Cory and Bella sat with Natalie, who was shot in the stomach and holding bloody cloths to her wound.
“You’re missing four,” Cox said.
“’Cause you and your goons killed them,” Cory snapped. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“They had weapons and used them. Trust me; some of my men are down, too.”
“Good,” Bella snapped.
“Sitrep?” Ponce asked as soon as Cox walked away with some of his men. They were covered but could talk.
Cory immediately went into a more comfortable routine. “Henry took out a few, but they got him in the legs, and he went down. It looked bad, so I pulled him to cover, but he was bleeding out.”
He didn’t mention that Henry had told him to run, get to cover, and give the soldiers hell. Cory’s eyes stung when he thought about losing Henry, who had gone through so much and always had been dependable and steady in combat.