by A. American
When she opened her eyes, it took a minute for her eyes to focus. After a moment she realized it was just a dream; she was still in the camp and not at FSU. Jess closed her eyes again as tears started to run down her cheeks.
After napping fitfully for another few hours, she got up to use the bathroom. The blinding sun stung when she opened the door, forcing her to shield her face with her hand. As she headed for the latrine the sound of diesel engines caught her ear. A number of buses were pulling into the reception area. There seemed to be more and more of them lately. She stopped on a small platform and looked at the mass of people.
They look worse every day, she thought as the dirty, gaunt forms staggered off the buses.
After using the toilet she went to the sinks located on the opposite wall. Jess gripped both sides of the sink and looked in the mirror. She stared at the face looking back at her. It was almost unrecognizable. When she left FSU to go home for the break, she was young and attractive. While she was still young, she felt as if she had aged thirty years. There was nothing attractive about the face in the mirror.
When she exited the bathroom, the buses were still there, engines idling. Usually they left as quickly as they were unloaded. She could see the drivers and their security personnel standing around by the open doors. What are they waiting for? she thought to herself. The thought had barely passed through her mind when a large group was led toward the buses. As long as she had been in the camp, Jess never saw anyone leave under any circumstances, so it was quite odd to see people lining up to board the buses. Was there a way out of this godforsaken camp?
Back in the tent, the women were chatting away. Donna saw her and approached, holding little Chloe by the hand.
“How are you doing?” Donna asked as she sat beside her on the cot, pulling the child up onto her lap.
Jess scooted away from her a little and smiled. “Better, I’m feeling better.” She smiled at the little girl and smoothed her hair.
Donna smiled. “Well, if I can help, you just let me know.”
“I will, thank you.”
Donna rose and went to her bunk. Jess looked around for Mary and found her by the door talking with a couple of the other women. Mary saw her and walked over, Fred closely behind her.
“How was work today?”
“It was work,” Fred said, looking around the tent before reaching into her coat pocket. “We didn’t see you come for lunch, so I brought you something.” She produced two small corn muffins and handed them to Jess.
“Hey, thanks! I didn’t realize I was hungry till now.” She took the muffins and put them under her pillow. Better to hide them, as it was illegal to smuggle food to the tents.
Mary smiled and patted Jess’s leg. “I was worried about you.”
Jess smiled. “I know.” She paused for a moment. “More buses came in today. The weird thing was that they loaded a bunch of people from here, and I think they took them away.”
Fred sat on the cot across from Jess. “We knew something was going on. They made us fix a bunch of bag lunches.” She looked at Mary. “They must have been for them.”
“I wonder where they went. And, jeez, I wish I could go with them. I want to get the hell out of here,” Jess said quietly.
“I’m with you,” Fred said.
Mary had a nervous smile. “I don’t know. It ain’t so bad here.” She paused, looking off into the distance. “It’s a lot worse out there.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be free and have to find my own food and shelter than be stuck here,” Fred said.
“Food and shelter aren’t what I’m worried about,” Mary said flatly.
“There are some people around here who could help us”—Jess nodded toward Donna—“and she knows where they are. My friends Morgan and Thad are from her neighborhood, and it’s not far from here. They’ll help us.”
“Even if we knew where their neighborhood was, how would we get out of here?” Mary asked.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Fred said. “I’m heading back to my bunk, girls. I’m exhausted.”
As Mary and Jess continued talking among themselves, they could hear buses pulling into the camp. Curious, they went outside to look down the hill at the reception area, which was filled with people.
“See, look at the group lining up over there. They’re going to board the buses,” Jess said, pointing.
Suddenly a few people at the head of one line broke out and began to run toward the lead bus. The driver and security agent standing by the door were quickly overwhelmed as some began boarding the bus while others took the weapons from the security agent. Someone was standing in the door of the bus waving at those still in their lines, urging them to get on.
As the camp siren screamed to life, the two women quickly knelt down. Gunfire erupted down the hill. People began to scream and run.
“Oh my Lord, they shot a man!” Mary cried. They watched as a body crumpled and fell out of the bus.
Jess had her hands over her ears as gunfire filled the air. A thick cloud of black smoke erupted from the bus. It lurched forward and began to roll, sideswiping a row of Porta-Potties and knocking several of them over. Security forces scrambled around firing at the bus, and then the shots rang closer. In what seemed like an instant, rounds started cracking over the heads of the two women.
“They’re shooting into the camp!” Mary shouted.
Though they couldn’t see the bus from their prone positions on the ground, they could hear it gaining speed. More security personnel ran past them toward the reception center. One stopped just past them and began firing at the bus, shooting across the camp to do so. He quickly ran off in the direction of the fleeing bus.
“I don’t hear the bus anymore, do you?” Jess asked.
“No, the shooting is stopping too,” Mary replied.” I can’t believe they were shooting into the camp! They could’ve killed someone.”
Jess slowly rose as the siren began to wind down. “It looks like they did.”
Mary rose to her feet beside her. “Oh my gosh,” Mary said, covering her mouth, “there’s so many of them.”
A number of bodies were scattered around the buses and the reception tent. The security force was quickly rounding everyone up, leaving the wounded unattended. Both those just arriving and those who were to board the buses to leave were being pushed into a large group, their hands on their heads.
Mary shook her head. “Maybe you are right, Jess. We’re no safer here than we are out there.”
Chapter 12
Thad walked over to Reggie’s house. They needed to go relieve the guys on the barricade. The old coach gun was tucked under his arm and his hands were in his pockets as he shuffled along the dirt road. He found Reggie in the front yard, digging along the edge of the fence.
“What’re you after in there?”
Reggie looked up from the shovel. “Morgan said you can eat Kudzu roots. I’m lookin’ for some.”
“You that hungry?”
“Not really, just thought I’d see if I could find some and what they taste like.”
“You ready to go down?”
“Yeah, let me get my rifle.”
Reggie went in the house and came back with a pack and his rifle. They climbed onto his four-wheeler and headed for the barricade.
“It’s starting to warm up,” Thad shouted over his shoulder as they ran down the road.
“Yeah, maybe we can start some plants and get a garden going soon.”
“I’d love some fresh veggies.”
“I’d love some fresh anything!”
As they pulled up to the barricade Ted and Jeff were in sight, leaning against some logs.
“Well, if you can’t get here on time, get here when you can,” Jeff said with a smile.
Reggie laughed as he climbed
off. “Dock my pay.”
“You guys see anything?” Thad asked as he laid the coach gun on the barricade.
“Nah, just a couple of folks walking down the road. None of ’em seemed too interested in talking,” Ted said.
“Good, no news is good news.”
“Keep an eye out for the old man, he should be back here soon. It’s gettin’ dark an’ I know he won’t stay out after dark with the girls with him,” Ted said as he and Jeff climbed onto their ATV.
“Will do,” Reggie said as he turned to face the road, leaning on the top log of the barricade. He and Thad stood in silence for a while before Reggie started lamenting the past.
“Know what I miss more than anything? You ain’t gonna believe this.”
Thad looked over. “What?”
“Getting up and going to work. It’s not that I particularly loved my job. But I miss the routine of getting up and going out to work on some equipment, shootin’ the shit with the operators and laborers, know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I do. I miss driving my truck down the interstate, drinking a cup of coffee with the fellas while it was unloaded.” He paused for a moment. “And coming home to Anita and little Tony.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad, sorry.” Reggie looked down at his boots and scuffed the gravel.
Thad looked over and smiled. “You didn’t, there’s nothing I can do about it now.” Trying to turn the conversation around, he looked up with a smile and said, “Five Guys burgers.”
“Oh man, don’t even start on that,” Reggie said, patting his stomach. “Seven-Eleven quarter-pound Big Bites, all covered in onions and chili.”
“Ooo, woo! Them things’ll kill a man!”
“Naw, one of them and a Mountain Dew and I was set!”
“If I ate one of them, I’d still be burping it up the next day.”
Reggie let out a loud laugh, slapping his belly. “Momma always said I had a cast-iron gut!”
A sound in the distance stopped their laughter short. Thad stepped around the barricade, picking up the shotgun as he did. Looking back toward Altoona, he could see something in the road.
“Is it them?”
Thad squinted. “Yeah, looks like ’em.”
I pulled the truck through the barricade.
“How was the trip?” Reggie asked.
“Fine, jus’ fine. Mikey sends his love,” Sarge said.
“I bet.”
“You get them hogs penned up?” Reggie asked.
“Yeah, we made a temporary pen for them for now; we’ll have to get the permanent one done soon,” I answered.
Thad looked past me to Mel and girls. “Hi, Miss Mel. You girls enjoy the ride?”
“I did, but it was scary,” Little Bit said.
“Hi, Thad, how are you doing?” Mel replied.
“I’m good. What was scary?” Thad asked, looking back at Sarge.
“Oh, nothin’ really, some local boys from Pat’s Island blocked the road on the way back. We had a talk is all.”
“What the hell were they doing all the way down here?”
“The old woman at the store in Altoona told ’em about us. They just wanted to check us out,” Sarge said.
“Well, this is interesting and all, but me and Bobbie are going to go to the house and see what we can come up with for dinner . . . that is if anyone’s hungry,” Mel said.
That was met with a chorus of yes and of course! I told her to take the truck with the girls so they didn’t have to walk.
“Reggie, you got any problem tradin’ that big boar for seventy-five gallons of gas?” Sarge asked.
“Naw, we need the gas, that’s for sure.”
“Good, ’cause I already made the deal. We gotta run it up there in the morning.”
“Fine with me.”
Sarge leaned against the logs, kicking at the dirt, then looked up. “If you guys had to bug out of here, how long you think it would take you to pack what you need and get out?”
Danny and I looked at each other. “I don’t know, depends on what we wanted to take, I guess,” I said.
“Think you were never coming back. Whatever you took is all you’d have.”
“I never planned that way; my thoughts”—Danny nodded his head toward me—“and his were to bug in. This is our Alamo.”
“And you saw what happened to them.”
“Bad example. You know what I mean.”
“I do, but it’s a perfect example of what I’m getting at. You guys really need to start thinking about it. Get things ready so that if you had to you could be out of here in fifteen minutes.”
“I could be out of here in fifteen minutes, no problem,” Reggie said.
“Me too,” Thad said.
“I guess we need to work on it, then,” I replied.
“You boys good here?” Sarge asked Thad.
“Yeah, we just got here a little bit ago.”
Sarge looked at me. “You gonna bring ’em down some dinner?”
“Oh yeah, why don’t you go down to the house and bring the guys over”—I looked at my watch—“say seven thirty?”
“Works for me. You two hop in an’ I’ll give you a ride home.”
Chapter 13
The house was full of bodies and voices. Everywhere you looked someone was sitting with a plate in their hands. Seeing Sarge and Ted out of their body armor was a rarity. Looking over to the front door I chuckled at the stacks of hardware, long guns, vests and other accoutrements of our new life.
“Hey, Mel!” Sarge shouted.
“Yeah?” she asked as she got up from the table.
He was chewing a mouthful of food, holding the plate up and pointing at it. “These is some darn fine groceries.”
Sarge was joined by everyone else, all nodding and adding their compliments. “I’m glad you like it, but don’t get used to it. The stored food is getting pretty low,” Mel said.
“I think I’d eat a boot if you cooked it,” Ted said, causing nearly everyone to laugh.
After making sure everyone had enough I filled a couple of plastic containers of the casserole for Thad and Reggie, telling Mel I was going to run it down to them.
Lee Ann looked up. “Can I come?”
“I wanna go too!” Little Bit shouted.
“Your sister asked first; you stay here,” I told her, then looked at Lee Ann. “Come on, kiddo, you wanna drive?”
Her face lit up. “The truck?”
“No, no, the four-wheeler.”
She wasn’t nearly as excited about that but replied, “Sure.”
Picking up my rifle, we went out and I climbed onto the back of the Polaris. She got on in front of me and started it right up without any advice from me. As she put it in gear, I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. She looked back laughing. “What are you doing?”
“I’m a-skeered! Don’t kill me!”
When she goosed the throttle, I let out a little scream, and now she was really laughing.
As we pulled up to the barricade, we were met by Thad’s big smile. “Hey, Morg. Hey, Lee Ann.”
“Hi, Thad. Hi, Reggie,” she said as she stepped off the machine.
“You boys hungry?”
“Do we look hungry?” Reggie said with a grin.
“I don’t really know; I’d have to see what not hungry looks like first, an’ I know I’ve never seen that look before.”
Thad let out a laugh. “You got that right.”
Lee Ann walked out to the road. She was standing on the center line looking out toward the forest. I kept an eye on her as me and the boys talked.
“Tell the ladies we said thanks for the grub,” Reggie said, pulling the top off the container and smelling it.
“Goes without saying, man, really,” I sa
id.
“Well, tell ’em anyway,” Thad said with his mouth half-full.
“Hey, Dad, look at this.”
We all looked up. Lee Ann was pointing down the road in the direction of the forest. The guys quickly laid their dinner aside, picking up their weapons, and we jogged out to the road.
“What is it?” I asked, a little panic cutting into my voice.
“Look at that glow. You can see it on the bottom of the clouds, what is that?”
We all looked down the road. Off to the left, way, way out there, was a very light glow. The complete absence of man-made light meant the nights were exceptionally dark.
“It’s the camp,” I said after a moment.
“They must be pretty busy out there to have it lit up like that,” Thad said.
“Yeah, but busy doing what?” Reggie said.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I get my own gun?”
Her question was like one of those scenes in a movie when they add the sound of a record needle being dragged across the vinyl. Thad and Reggie looked at me expectantly.
“Why do you want a gun?”
“I want to feel safer. I want to be able to help protect us all.”
“You don’t think there’s enough people around with guns now?”
“It’s not that, it’s just you guys are gone a lot. It would be better if me and Taylor had our own.”
“You two been talking about this?”
“Yeah, I told her I’d ask. We’re old enough; we can take care of everybody.”
“You are old enough, but while I taught you how to shoot, I’m not the best teacher.” I paused for a moment. “Tell you what: we’ll get one of Sarge’s guys to give you both some pointers. I agree it would be better to have you girls armed, and I’m glad you’re ready for it.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Someone will be down later to take y’all’s place,” I said to Thad and Jeff.
“No problem, we ain’t going anywhere,” Thad said.
Lee Ann was on the Polaris. “Come on, Dad!”
“You’re being paged,” Reggie said, pointing at her.