THE COLLAPSE: Seeking Refuge

by Frank Kaminski

  Some leaders felt embarrassed and looked away, but most did not.

  Hal pointed at Stephen and said, “Stephen’s woodcutters are my alibi.” Then he looked at Claudine and William and continued with, “I didn’t do it! I swear! Yeah, I was pissed that she was cheating on me, but I’d never kill her! Never!”

  Claudine wasn’t satisfied. She turned to Alexis and ordered her in a reluctant tone, “Take his weapon, please. Then detain him.”

  “What? No! I was with the woodcutters all day, just ask them!” Hal argued, but Alexis was already in full-out cop mode, frisking his body and removing his pistol.

  Stephen wondered what she was going to “detain” Hal with, but his question was answered as she pulled a set of handcuffs from her service belt and snapped them onto poor Hal’s wrists behind his back. He guessed that she still had a lot of cop left in her, even after The Collapse.

  Hal was pleading to Stephen now, “Please, tell them! I was working for you all day! I didn’t do anything to Julia!”

  Stephen wanted to help Hal. He liked the man…but…he wasn’t with Hal the entire day, so he couldn’t completely vouch for his whereabouts. However, his woodcutters certainly could.

  “I’ll talk to my woodcutters, okay?” Stephen replied to Hal as Alexis began walking him away.

  Alexis grumbled to Claudine and William as she pushed Hal past them, “This is why I asked you two for a detention unit more than a week ago.”

  Fish suddenly grinned at Alexis’ comment. He leaned over and quietly chuckled into Stephen’s ear, “Yeah, but who’s gonna build it…Hal?”

  Stephen grimaced and replied, “That’s not funny, bro.”

  Hal was still shouting as Alexis hauled him away, “What about my son? Where’s my son? You have to let me find my son!”

  Claudine nodded, then looked at Jason Oxnard and said, “Ox, go find his boy and bring him to our RV.”

  Ox acknowledged and jogged away from the meeting site.

  Carrie stepped over to the Probsts and asked, “Are you sure that you want to do this to Hal right now? You’re not going to let him find his son or see his deceased wife again before the body begins to deteriorate?”

  Claudine responded before William could, “No, not right now. I don’t want him anywhere near the crime scene until we can figure this out.”

  Carrie argued, “I know that everybody’s minds are directed at Hal as the likely suspect, but does any actual evidence point that way? C’mon, this is Hal we’re talking about!”

  William and Claudine looked at each other for a moment, then Claudine said to everyone still at the meeting, “We cannot tolerate any form of vigilante justice, none whatsoever. We must send a message to all residents that criminal behavior will be dealt with swiftly and with an iron fist. Carrie, why don’t you go ahead and conduct a medical investigation for us, please? You’re the most qualified individual within The Park.”

  Carrie just put her arms up and looked skyward as if to say, “Whatever, bitch, I’ll do it, but this is all wrong and you know it.”

  William pointed at Fish and asked, “Would you mind escorting Carrie to Julia’s body and provide her with some security while she conducts her investigation?”

  Fish did a double take and pointed at himself, saying, “Who…me?”

  “Yes, you. Do you think you could handle that for us, please?”

  Fish looked at the Amazonian nurse, who was staring at him with hopeful eyes awaiting his response, and then answered, “Yeah, sure, I guess.”

  Carrie turned to Meghan and asked, “Where’s the body?”

  Meghan quickly explained to Carrie that the body was found on the trail that led from Lower Loop to the north beach. Before they left, William grasped Fish gently by his arm and pulled him close, saying quietly into his ear, “Keep all the looky-loos as far away as possible. If anybody asks what happened, just tell them that the facts are unclear at this point, but an investigation is currently underway and the perpetrator will be dealt with swiftly and severely. I can count on you, right?”

  “Yup, you got it, boss. I’m on it,” Fish nodded.

  Carrie hollered over her shoulder as she and Fish hustled away, “Stephen, please let Tarra know that I might be gone for a while, and ask her to hold down the fort until I get back.”

  *****

  Stephen was disappointed with himself as he pedaled his bike toward Carrie’s site. He never got the chance to speak with Claudine and William about Larry Paulson. All of the dead Julia Hollingsworth business had ruined the opportunity, because Stephen’s mind was elsewhere. He was worried about Hal.

  He decided that his next objective after informing Tarra of Carrie’s whereabouts should be to speak with the woodcutting team about Hal. Stephen hoped that they would provide him with positive news that Hal had been there all day with them. Regardless of the information he received from the woodcutters, Stephen would pass along whatever they told him to Claudine and William.

  Once at site 72, Stephen checked on his wife and the Kays, and they were doing fine. The Kays were having fun pretending to be “velociraptors” amongst the wet trees near Carrie’s RV.

  Tarra told Stephen that she was upset for two reasons. One, because her shotgun had gotten wet earlier that afternoon, and two, because she received another visit from Larry Paulson.

  “Mine got wet, too,” Stephen said sadly, referring to the M-4 strapped to his back. He then explained to Tarra why he wasn’t able to speak with the Probsts about Larry’s behavior.

  The news about Julia stunned Tarra. She didn’t know what to say. But she wasn’t speechless because she felt bad for Julia, she only felt bad for herself and Carrie.

  “I’m not a suspect, too, am I? What about Carrie?” she asked.

  Stephen suddenly realized what she meant. She and Carrie had had an altercation with Julia the day before! How many people knew about that, though? Stephen did a mental calculation of the witnesses. Other than himself, Tarra and Carrie; it was Sydney, Hal, the two men in the white Chevy truck that transported Kip-the-gunshot-victim, and, finally, the Kays. Stephen couldn’t remember the names of the two men in the Chevy, or whether they had even introduced themselves.

  “Shit!” Stephen exclaimed to Tarra, “I didn’t think of that. Your name was never brought up at the meeting, though. Carrie is conducting a medical investigation right now to determine the cause of death. Fish is with her.”

  “That’s cool,” Tarra said, “but I’m pretty sure that there is going to be a criminal-type investigation as well. My name is going to be brought up eventually.”

  “You’re probably right,” Stephen agreed. “What do you think we should do about that?”

  Tarra laughed and said, “That’s funny, because I was going to ask you the same question!”

  *****

  It wasn’t difficult for Fish and Carrie to find the body. A small crowd of mostly retired-age individuals had gathered around Julia, whose body was half-on, half-off the trail about 40 yards from the beach.

  “Just far enough into the woods on the trail from the beach that the other security forces wouldn’t hear anything,” Carrie thought to herself as she and Fish neared the gathering.

  Fish bellowed to the onlookers, “Okay, folks, let’s break it up.”

  He was trying to sound authoritative. It must have worked, because the group moved a few yards away from the body down the trail toward the beach. None of them completely disappeared, however, they kept on watching, albeit from a distance.

  Fish remembered what William had spoken quietly in his ear, and took his rifle off his back. He moved closer to the squad of onlookers with his rifle in hand and shouted, “Let’s go, keep it moving! Nothing to see here, people, now MOVE!”

  Most of the old folks clucked away like startled chickens toward the beach, but two of them held their ground. Both of them appeared to be women in their late fifties or sixties, maybe even their seventies, Fish wasn’t sure. He just knew that they were old. The
y both had gray hair, but one had significantly more hair than the other. It was long, too. Like a hippy’s. “Good ol’ Washington state and their legalized marijuana, I guess that even the old folks are toking it up,” Fish laughed to himself.

  The long haired one demanded, “What happened here? Why do we need to leave? If something is going on around here, we deserve to know about it!”

  “Yeah, she’s right…we deserve to know!” short gray echoed.

  Long gray added, “It looks like that poor woman was strangled or something. I think we have a right to know if there’s a murderer on the loose!”

  “Ma’am,” Fish addressed the old lady with the long hair, and then pointed at Carrie, who was crouched over Julia’s body. “Do you see that big, tall woman right there? She is a nurse, and she’s doing a medical examination right now. We don’t know any more than you do at this point.”

  Carrie turned her head towards Fish and frowned at the “big, tall woman” description. She would rather have preferred, “Athletic and Attractively Big-Boned”.

  Long gray snarled at Fish, “I know who she is, dummy.”

  Short gray added, “Yes, everyone knows Carrie.”

  “Well, if that’s the case,” Fish cocked his head at long gray, “then why don’t you ladies let her do her job?”

  Carrie didn’t mind the onlookers, but she was worried that Fish might get himself into some trouble if the women didn’t let up on him. He was, after all, only doing what he was ordered. So she called out to the gray ladies, “You may know who I am, but I don’t know either of you. You both seem like really nice people, though. Could you please do me a favor and leave the area so I can concentrate on this inspection? I would really appreciate it!”

  Long and short gray looked at each other. Fish hoped that Carrie’s politeness would be effective, and the two persistent old bats would just fly away. He didn’t want to harass them anymore than absolutely necessary.

  Short gray looked past Fish and curiously asked Carrie, “When will we know what happened?”

  Carrie sighed and said, “If you fancy some answers, you’re more than welcome to stop by my campsite and see me tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  Long and short gray looked at each other again and nodded silently to each other. Long gray turned back to Fish, stepped toward him, and then sneered down at the automatic rifle in his hands for at least five seconds, then she slowly turned her head up and sneered at his face without saying word. She was silently expressing her disapproval of him, his weapon, and his tactics.

  Fish could tell that she was disgusted with him, due to the over-dramatic sneering. It was so over the top that Fish wanted to laugh-out-loud, but he maintained his composure. For a moment, anyway, until long gray finally spoke over her shoulder to short gray.

  “C’mon Zelda, let’s get out of here.”

  Now, Fish might have been able to stop himself from laughing if the name hadn’t been “Zelda”. As a heavy gamer from his childhood during the 80’s all the way up until The Collapse, Fish knew exactly who Zelda was, and he couldn’t believe there was actually a real person out there in the world with the same name.

  All of the air in Fish’s lungs burst forward in a huge raspberry sounding *BMPHH*, and he thought that some of his spittle might have even hit long gray in the face. Her facial expression instantaneously went from a sneer to shock and dismay. Her long hair had even flown back a bit from the force of it.

  Zelda violently came forward and shouted at the still-laughing Fish, “What’s so funny, you tall sonofabitch?!”

  Long gray wiped her face with her jacket sleeve, then promptly slapped Fish hard across the face.

  “Da fuck is wrong with you?!!!” Fish cried out and raised his rifle up to block a second slap coming from ol’ Zelda herself. They were ganging up on him! And there was nothing he could do about it, either. He couldn’t hit them back, they were just old ladies! All he could do was continue to back up and avoid their swings. He shouted over his shoulder, “Carrie…help me, please!”

  Carrie was already airborne from her crouched position after she had heard the first slap. She bounded forward and forced herself between Fish and the furiously swinging grays. Carrie reached out and snatched up a handful of each one of their jackets under their chins and pushed them backwards, nearly toppling them both in the process.

  “Alright,” Carrie shouted at the women, “fun time is over. You’d better leave now.”

  “Get your hands off me!” Zelda shouted and batted pathetically at the fistful of jacket in Carrie’s powerful hand.

  Carrie threatened the two crazy ladies by shouting, “Just know that if either of you take a swing at me, I will hit you back! Now…get out of here so I can finish up my analysis.”

  *****

  Stephen’s mind raced as he pedaled his new bicycle toward wood station #1. As expected (thankfully), his woodcutters were still there. A few were taking a break as the others were diligently clearing brush and smaller trees to make way for a decent-sized Maple that was about to be felled for fish-smoking purposes.

  Stephen dismounted and hollered to his boys, “Guys, gather up around me. I have some questions for you.”

  Many of the boys suddenly looked at each other worriedly, as if they had done something wrong. Stephen quickly eased their minds by saying, “It’s okay, you fellas didn’t do anything wrong. C’mon…gather up.”

  Stephen questioned the boys about Hal’s whereabouts during the day, and they had all concurred that Hal had, in fact, been busy constructing the herring smokers, and had not left the area, not even for lunch. They followed up with the fact that he had been informed of the three o’clock meeting’s location by Meghan somewhere around 1:30 PM, and walked away for meeting at 2:45pm. Fifteen minutes was definitely not enough time to walk all the way out to the north beach, commit a murder, and then walk all the back to Forest Loop where the meeting was held. No way.

  Stephen wanted to solidify their claim of his presence, so he asked, “What about bathroom breaks? He never left for that, either?”

  Prince responded for the rest of the boys, “Umm, Mr. A, we don’t actually leave for that. We just…ya know…piss in the forest.”

  Stephen nodded. He wondered if the woodcutters took dumps out there, too, but didn’t ask. Regardless, he had ascertained all the information he needed to get Hal released from Alexis and the Probsts. And…speaking of Alexis, what was up with her, anyway? Why was she so eager put Hal in handcuffs in the first place? What type of police officer was she before The Collapse? Maybe she was just reliving her old life, and was once again in her comfort zone as an enforcer of the law. Maybe that’s why she had been so exuberant. Stephen summed it up to that as he got back onto his bike.

  Before departing, Stephen yelled to the boys, “Oh, I almost forgot, the leadership was able to score you guys some new saws. Two really good ones. They are still at site 30 where we had the meeting today. Why don’t some of you go and pick them up before they walk away?”

  “Woohoo!” a few of the woodcutters cheered happily.

  Stephen smiled and then pedaled away to speak with the Probsts about a good man named Hal Hollingsworth.

  *****

  Carrie said to Fish, “It’s pretty obvious that she had been asphyxiated for a few moments, then her neck was broken – probably right here on this trail. By someone pretty big, too.”

  Fish threw his head back and said, “Why are you looking at me like that? I was sleeping all day!”

  “I’m not looking at you like that, I’m just telling you what I think! Geezus!” Carrie laughed.

  “How do you know all that stuff, anyway?” Fish asked.

  Carrie pointed at Julia’s mouth and explained, “See that lipstick smeared around her lips? Someone had their hand over her mouth, probably trying to keep her quiet. Then, when she wouldn’t shut up…SNAP!”

  Fish flinched as Carrie made a violent motion with her right arm, mock-snapping an invis
ible person’s neck. He then tried to play it off as if he was adjusting his weight, then asked, “What about her fingernails and stuff, don’t they always check those on TV?”

  “I already looked, and I couldn’t find anything. If there was a struggle, it was very short-lived. Like I said, the perpetrator is a very strong person. There probably won’t be any evidence on the man’s face or arms.”

  “Carrie,” Fish asked, “you keep saying ‘man’, but what if it was a woman?”

  He was trying to be very equal-opportunity about the whole thing.

  “Not likely. I am probably one of the only women strong enough in The Park to do anything like this,” Carrie answered, shaking her head. She then watched Fish put his hand to his chin, pretending to be deep in thought.

  “Hmmm,” Fish began to question, rubbing his chin, “and where were you all day?”

  Carrie frowned, then retorted with a laugh, “Shut the fuck up, Fish, you’re such a jackass! And yes, I called you a ‘jackass’ because that’s what Tarra calls you all the time. She told me all about you, my friend. Now, let’s get off this trail and take this information to the Probsts. We will also need to notify Walter Pullman, so he can get the body moved in preparation for a ceremony.”

  *****

  Pharaoh was tied to Fish’s truck with a fifteen foot line attached to the trailer hitch. That way, he could defend both sides of the truck, if need be, from anyone that decided to check out what might be inside the cab or under the big blue tarp topside.

  While on guard duty, Pharaoh spotted a young boy walking toward his master’s domain. The young human was immediately recognized as an “acceptable” by his master. His master had labeled the acceptable little human as “Wolf”. Acceptables weren’t harmed, unless the dog smelled mischief or threat.

  The human slowly walked toward the dog and called out his name. Pharaoh signaled to the boy that it was okay to approach by intently wagging his tail in a friendly manner.