First Light - An EMP Survival Novel (Enter Darkness Book 5)

by K. M. Fawkes

“Have you gotten any stragglers besides us?” he asked.

  “We’ve had a few,” said Marley. “We try to accommodate them as comfortably as we can. Sometimes they choose to leave after a few days or weeks—amazingly, not everyone is on board with our project of rebuilding civilization. Not everyone thinks it deserves to be rebuilt. I’ve been called a fool and a dreamer, but I suppose that’s the curse of risking anything. There will always be detractors.”

  “I can’t believe anyone would disagree with you,” Brad said, suppressing a yawn. His eyes were getting heavy; he had been awake for nearly eighteen hours. “I might stay with Anna tonight, if that’s all right by you?”

  “Of course,” Marley said. “We had assumed you would want to.” Placing her glass on the stand, she rose and led him to the door. “There’s a second bed in the guest room already laid out for you. The two of you will be the only ones in the room tonight. I know it’ll probably take you a few days to adjust, so you’re welcome to seek me out in the morning if you want to continue the discussion.”

  “I just might.”

  Brad hadn’t come close to exhausting all his questions in their brief conversation. At the same time, he hadn’t yet gotten to talk to Emma and he knew she would be seeking him out at some point. He wondered whether she still retained any of her old feelings toward him. He certainly didn’t. Nearly ten years had passed; life had happened to both of them.

  Only belatedly, as he descended the ladder back down into the corridor, did it occur to him that he ought not to have left Anna alone in a strange room in a strange place. Although the community as a whole seemed well-intentioned, he hadn’t yet ascertained whether they were individually trustworthy. With a surge of panic he ran the rest of the way down the hall to her room—only to find her safe in bed, asleep. She looked as though she hadn’t moved at all in the past hour.

  He turned on the lamp by her bedside table and closed the door behind him. As he did so, Anna stirred and rose slightly.

  “You okay?” she asked groggily. “You look worried.”

  “Everything’s good, Anna. Everything’s good.” Brad broke into a wide smile as he looked down at her. Two days ago, their friendship had been pushed to breaking point, but the relief he felt at seeing her here, alive and looking better than she had in days, was overwhelming.

  Just to be safe, though, he didn’t sleep in the bed Marley had designated for him. Instead he climbed into Anna’s bed and fell asleep at her feet, sitting upright, clutching tightly to his axe.

  Chapter 13

  Brad rose with a start. For a delirious minute he had imagined himself back in the woods, carefully tending Anna as she awaited death. But then, as warm amber light filtered into the room and the song of a warbler cut through the silence, the events of the previous day slowly unspooled in his memory.

  Rising from the bed, he ventured downstairs into the dining-hall and found Anna eating breakfast with the others. Her wound had been freshly bandaged and the color was beginning to return to her face.

  Over a plain meal of fresh fruit, eggs and oatmeal, the two of them discussed the search for Lee. Despite Brad’s assurances that Lee had no intention of harming the two kids, they both worried for his mental state. “I’d rather find him sooner than later,” said Anna, brows creased in worry.

  “Where could he have gone, though?” Brad shoveled another spoonful of egg onto his plate. “I feel if we think about it long enough, we’ll be able to figure it out.”

  “There would be no point in returning to the cabin,” said Anna. “Unless he was searching for something he had lost and thought he might find it in the ruins—but that’s unlikely, right? What about Bangor?”

  “Why would he go back there?” Brad asked. He drained the last of his watered-down tea and shoved the mug aside. “Bangor is overrun with violence and pestilence, or at least it was the last time I passed through. You might die in the country but you would definitely die in the city.”

  “He may not have intended to stay,” said Anna. “He might have been headed there for the same reason we were—because he was hoping to find something he couldn’t find anywhere else.”

  Brad had to concede that this was possible. “But he wouldn’t have stayed there; he would have gotten what he wanted and left. His ultimate destination would have been elsewhere, and whatever that was, he’s likely to have arrived by now.” He had been thinking hard about this for much of the past couple days and it was the only solution that made sense to him.

  Anna was finishing her second bowl of oatmeal. After not eating in several days, and undergoing a painful surgery, her hunger was ravenous. “What about Garcia’s place in Ashland?”

  “I’ve thought about it, but it doesn’t seem likely,” he said. “Why go back there with the kids in tow? It was too dangerous when it was just me and him.”

  “He could have gone to Vanessa’s,” Anna offered.

  Now this was a real possibility. At least there, Lee and the kids would have had a safe place to stay without much risk of being found by the militant types that now seemed to have overrun northern Maine. Lee had the same basic needs as any other person—walls to protect against the December snows and a clean bed to sleep on—and like anyone else he would be drawn to the place where he could most easily get them.

  “It’s not a given,” said Brad, nudging his plate away, “but it’s the most likely. I think we should start there before going anywhere else.”

  Some of the color seemed to be coming back into Anna’s face. She seemed to have been invigorated by the prospect of finding her son.

  “What are we going to do when we find them?” she asked.

  Brad shrugged, feeling a stiffness in his shoulders. “Hadn’t thought that far yet. We don’t even know if he’s there, and I’d always sort of assumed finding him would be the hardest part.”

  Anna frowned. “How are we going to get there?”

  “That’s what I’m about to find out.”

  On entering the dining hall that morning Brad had spent about ten minutes quietly examining a map of the area that had been pinned to the wall above the condiments table. Now, with a better idea of where they were located, he approached Marley after breakfast. She and Emma were standing together beneath a gilded framed painting of a scientist in a long coat and sweater, whispering and laughing. They stopped talking abruptly as Brad approached.

  “I don’t want it to seem like I’m abusing my privileges,” he said, “especially since we only just arrived. But I do have a request, and it’s not a small one.”

  Emma raised a brow in suspicion, but Marley smiled, her face inscrutable, and asked, “What do you need?”

  “We need to borrow one of your vehicles. Or at least I do.” Brad still hadn’t made up his mind whether he wanted Anna to come with him or not; it might be safer if she stayed here. “The place I’m headed is about two days’ hike away. I’d get there a lot faster if I had a truck.”

  Marley frowned uncertainly. “I assume this is in reference to the situation we discussed last night.”

  “Yes. Only a fool would leave the safety of the dam unless it was urgent; you know that.” He threw a glance at Emma, sensing her frustration at being left out of the conversation. “You know I wouldn’t be asking for a truck unless I thought lives were at stake.”

  “I can vouch for his character,” said Emma, “if that helps.”

  “I’m not worried about your intentions,” said Marley. “I might have only known you for about twelve hours, but you don’t seem like the sort of person who would lie to me for the sake of absconding with our property.” She paused, hesitation and worry apparent in the lines of her face.

  “What, then?”

  “It’s just that I’m not sure I want anyone associated with the Renaissance getting involved in trouble out there,” Marley said. “I understand the nature of the mission you’re going on, or think I do. You want your kids back. Getting them back may require physical violence, even bloodshed. I d
on’t see how you can avoid that.”

  “And you don’t want to be part of it,” said Brad. “I get that—”

  “We’ve lived here peacefully since the collapse, living mostly unnoticed,” Marley said. “A search-and-rescue mission that may end in murder risks drawing unwanted attention from the worst elements, and some of those elements are likely to be armed. If they marched on the dam, we would have only limited power to defend ourselves. Our whole project—and, potentially, the future of the human race—depends on our ability to live and work here unnoticed.”

  Brad understood the importance of maintaining a low profile; he didn’t want her to think he didn’t. It was one of those occasions where he had to weigh his own needs—or rather, the needs of the children under his care—against the needs of a larger community. For him, the needs of Sammy and Martha would always come first.

  Marley seemed to sense this, for she added in a more conciliatory tone, “Look, I know how important this is to you, but it’s the group’s decision to make, since their resources are at stake. We’ll put it to a vote.”

  By now the clatter of silverware and clinking of glasses was beginning to subside as community members rose from the table and placed their empty plates in the receptacles to be washed. As Marley strode from table to table, Emma turned to him and said, “I’ll be honest: you were the last person I ever expected to turn up here.” She still retained that posh trans-Atlantic accent and that air of being perfectly poised that he had once found so charming.

  “I’m as surprised as you, believe me,” Brad replied. “The entire past five months have felt like an unending nightmare,” he said. “I don’t think this is the life any of us wanted for ourselves.”

  It was the subtlest of gestures, but Brad noticed that Emma moved a fraction of an inch closer, as if worried she was going to lose him again. “Maybe it is a dream, and we should be devoting our resources to figuring out how to wake up.”

  By now Marley was returning, leading as many members of the community as weren’t otherwise occupied. Anna emerged from the crowd and walked—with apparent ease, he noticed—over to Brad’s side.

  “What are we going to do if they won’t let us borrow one of their cars?” she asked in a low voice.

  “We’d have to go on foot,” Brad replied. “I’m not worried, though. I think they’ll let us.”

  “You have more faith in them than I do. I don’t think they trust us.”

  “They saved your life last night, so that would surprise me.”

  Marley raised a hand to motion for silence, addressing the group at large. “Here’s the situation: Brad and Anna are wanting to borrow one of the vehicles so that they can find Anna’s son and another little girl who were kidnapped. As a community, do we have a moral responsibility to assist them, or do we risk provoking a larger conflict that could endanger the Renaissance?”

  This was a lot to consider, and for a minute or two the group stood in silence as though weighing the given options. William was the first to speak.

  “I think the question is what kind of community do we want to be?” he said. “It seems to me we have a mandate to help the poor and children and enslaved, whenever possible. I don’t think borrowing one of our vehicles is asking too much.”

  “No,” said Gregory, the dishwasher, a portly man with bronze skin and a full head of thick, curly hair, “and I would gladly go with them if the community permitted. Granted, I don’t know the whole situation or how dangerous these people are, but I worry that if you try to take them alone you’ll end up getting yourselves killed. It would make more sense if we formed a unit.”

  There were loud murmurs of agreement. This wasn’t the sort of response Brad had been expecting; he had imagined himself having to persuade them just to let him take the truck.

  “We can talk about that later,” said Marley. “For now I want to see a show of hands: how many of you agree that we should grant them the use of one of our vehicles?”

  This time, the response was immediate and unanimous: with the exception of Marley, every single person in the room raised a hand.

  “It’s settled, then,” said Marley. “We’ll grant you the use of the truck—”

  “And some limited ammunition, if you need it,” said Gregory loudly. Seeing the bemused look on Marley’s face, he added, “It couldn’t hurt. No way will it be traced back to us.”

  “I still think it would make more sense if a few of us went with them,” said William. “We could form a raiding party, recover the kids and bring them here.”

  Again, most of the room murmured enthusiastic agreement. Brad felt a flood of emotions he wasn’t entirely sure how to process. He had almost given up having any faith in the goodness of his fellow humans, but the amount of support they were showing for two kids they had never met couldn’t fail to move him. Incredulous, he stole a glance over at Anna, who was fighting back tears.

  “I’m sure your support is appreciated,” said Marley, “but in the end it’s up to them whether or not they want company.”

  “I wish we could load up the truck and take all of you with us.” Brad’s voice rose over the din of conversation and everyone fell silent. “But I don’t want anyone else risking their lives for our sakes. I can’t speak for Anna, but I think it would be better for everyone involved if we went in alone.”

  “I don’t care if I die,” said Anna, “but I’ll be damned if I let the rest of you sacrifice yourselves. And beyond that, if we do manage to make it back alive, I want the kids to have a place they can come back to. I don’t want to have to explain to them that there were a lot of really lovely people here until they died trying to rescue them.”

  There was a smattering of macabre laughter: one of the more surprising side effects of the pandemic was that people were willing to laugh about death in a way they hadn’t been before.

  Turning to Marley, Brad added, “Not that we would want to intrude for very long on your hospitality. I would like the kids to meet you, though. I want them to grow up knowing that there are still good people in the world.”

  “Tell them they can always flee here if they need to,” said Emma. “I hope they’ll find this a place of refuge.”

  Anna’s mood had certainly improved since the night before. With an exuberant gesture she reached back behind her neck and unclasped a necklace on a slender silver chain. Brad had never looked too closely at it, but now he could see there was a small medal attached. The medal bore the image of a man holding a child. Both man and child wore what appeared to be haloes around their heads.

  “Here,” she said to Marley, “I want you to hold onto this for me. Let it serve as our guarantee that we plan to return.”

  “It’s lovely,” said Marley. “What is it?”

  “It’s a medal commemorating St. Anthony of Padua, who fled into the desert after the fall of Rome along with a few followers. They hoped to rebuild civilization through prayer and writing. My sister, Emily, gave it to me for my sixteenth birthday.”

  Looking genuinely moved by the gesture, Marley placed the necklace in her coat pocket. “I’ll hold onto it until you get back. I actually wanted to give you something, as well.” She paused.

  Brad waited, half-expecting her to offer him one of her high-powered rifles or the map that he had been impatiently analyzing from a distance for much of the conversation.

  “I’m making an executive decision here,” Marley said, “but I expect it to have the community’s full support. When the four of you return, I would like to offer you a permanent place in the Renaissance. Anyone who comes to us looking for help, we offer them food and clothing and sometimes medical care, if they need it. But sometimes it’s obvious that they wouldn’t be a good fit here. Some of them we’ve had to send away. And I know I haven’t known the two of you for very long, but you’ve more than proven yourselves worthy of living with us. Everyone will benefit from having you here.”

  The crowd voiced its approval, Emma adding above the clamor, �
�And as someone who’s known Brad for ten years now, I would be lobbying for his inclusion even if Marley was against it. He’s good people and we need him.”

  As William led a spirited cheer and the rest of the group joined in before surging forward to hug them, Brad and Anna exchanged glances. The look they shared seemed to say that no, they weren’t dreaming anymore. They were really here.

  Chapter 14

  Brad and Anna spent much of the rest of the day preparing to head out the following morning. After a vociferous debate with some of the other members of the group, they decided to approach the lake house via a disused and overgrown road that had been built twenty years before for a planned subdivision that was never built. True to his word, William loaned Brad one of their hunting rifles and a supply of ammunition. “This ought to be enough to take out a single guy,” William said, and Brad thanked him, though he worried that William was underestimating his father’s persistence.

  After changing into fresh clothes, provided by Gregory, for dinner that night they were served sweet potato casserole and a slab of ham from a pig that had recently been butchered, and toward the end of the meal Emma emerged from the kitchen carrying a freshly baked pound cake.

  Because the supply of eggs was running low, she had substituted apple sauce, which gave the cake an unexpected flavor that took some getting used to. But it had been so long since anyone had eaten cake that no one complained, and both Brad and Anna retired to bed that night with full stomachs and full hearts.

  “I still can’t figure out what we did to deserve this,” Brad said as he laid the set of keys Marley had given him on the nightstand. “Friends and food and a warm place to sleep?” Brad shook his head incredulously. “All it took was the world ending for me to appreciate the little things.”

  Laughing, Anna pulled off her shirt in a swift motion and kicked it across the room. The two of them had been living and sleeping together for long enough that Anna apparently no longer thought twice about removing her clothes in front of him. Still, this was the first time she had ever done it and the gesture surprised Brad, who let out an involuntary gasp and turned away.