At Night's End

by Benham, Tara

  The question/answer session went on for a few hours ending close to midnight. It was decided that Darcy and Milo would work with Micah and Baxlie. Apparently Milo had had plans to study biochemistry in his bid to study under Dad when he first came to live with us. Darcy, voiced interest, maybe more for Milo, but due to her intelligent questions I felt she might do well with them in the lab. Henry, Johnnie and West were going to work out a schedule for patrolling the borders. We had cameras, and the use of solar power to keep them running, but we wanted eyes on the grounds at various time to watch for small changes. Ever, Denver, Sasha and I were going to work on coming up with a way to use the air filtration system or some other system to distribute the inhibitor when it was ready.

  Chapter 24

  We all slept in a little later than normal due to the late night, and then after breakfast Atlas was given the first dose. He hadn’t presented any side effects yet which was a good sign. We each broke up into our own little groups to begin working. We left the call systems on at all times so that we could hear each other if necessary, as well as keeping walkie-talkies on us so we had contract with Johnnie, Henry and West. To both West’s and Atlas’ credit, they were either excellent actors or were really gung ho for helping us. I was cautiously hopeful for the latter. Around lunch time everyone came trickling into the kitchen where my group had the blueprints for the air filtration system spread out on the table. Sasha suggested a picnic to get us all out of the house, and to allow for our plans to go undisturbed.

  The snow had melted some and the sun was out, but it was still really cold. Johnnie had the idea of bringing out one of the tents and putting it up with the screens down to give some protection from the wind, and a heater. We sat at a picnic table together in silence for a while before small chatter began about the progress Atlas seemed to be making. We all listened as he said he’d starting feel like he had more energy. It was still too early to rejoice in success but we were glad to hear he wasn’t feeling worse. West started talking about how he had been in the beginning when he first got sick. We were listening with intent when we heard a large crash. We turned to see a truck smashed into our gates. We all jumped up quickly and made our way out of the tent to get a better view. There were two men stumbling out of the crashed truck that was now smoking. They were coughing and trying to get away when they noticed us. They raised their guns but didn’t shoot immediately.

  “Your bullets won’t make it through the protections we have, don’t waste them on us.” West hollered.

  “There’s nothing between us and you except for this fence, we can and will shoot. West you’re a traitor coming here to help the enemy.” The less injured of the man shouted.

  “I am not a traitor, I know more now than I did when I left. I think you would know enough about me to know I would never go against the group.” We were all staring in shock at West. So she had come here to get information on us. “You see that guard post over there. Make your way to it, there’s bullet proof glass and a lock that I promise you can’t break, but we can talk without yelling. David, Oliver, trust me.” She didn’t even wait for the rest of us to respond, she just made her way over to guard post.

  Immediately Ever and I rush to catch up with her. I wasn’t sure if she could be trusted now, more than ever. Without speaking, we decided to get to the post before her, so we could ensure the locks were engaged. We had just finished with the last of the locks, when the two men entered in on their side of the glass. They looked tired and beat down. We had water in the posts that we could pass to visitors, so we put two bottles into the shoot for them. They may not be friends, but they were still humans.

  "Why would the daughters of Dobbins offer us water? Is it poisoned?” The older of the two men asked, David I believe.

  “I’m not....” before Ever could finish, I gave her a swift nudge in the shoulder. There was no need it giving these men any more information than necessary.

  “We don’t believe the same as our father, and besides you can see that the seal is still intact, no tampering done. Weren’t not bad people.”

  “They’re not.” West and the rest of the group filed in behind us.

  “They’ve been working on a cure for everyone who has the virus. They think they’ve found it, they gave Atlas the first dosage today. He’s already showing signs of improvement. I had to come here.” She had her hand up against the glass.

  “You just left, never giving anyone a heads up, nothing. How were we supposed to know you were safe, or that you hadn’t turned traitor. You could have trusted us, you should have trusted me.” David placed his hand opposite of hers on his side of the glass. There was a look of longing and sadness.

  “What’s going on here West?” Johnnie looked sick and sad.

  “You were gone a long time, John. You were here doing your job, I get it, but Atlas and I were alone trying to survive. I never meant for this to happen.”

  “For what to happen exactly.” West didn’t have answer, the tears on her cheeks said enough. I could see hurt and anger in Johnnie’s face. Atlas had stepped up in between his parents, in preparation.

  “Dad, please, not here, not now.” Atlas eyes pleaded with his Dad, as his mom stood frozen.

  “West” David spoke up “You don’t have to stay here, you can come back with us. Start spreading the word of the cure, if you’re not lying.”

  “She will not be leaving.” Johnnie said through his teeth.

  “He’s right, David. I need to stay and help him with Atlas. Spreading the words is a good idea though, you should let everyone know, in secret that there may be a cure distributed soon. Try to be careful of whom you tell, we don’t word getting into the wrong hands”

  “We can do that, and then come back for you if you want. I should warn you though we have heard rumblings of groups heading this way, they are seeking revenge on Dobbins. In fact Mr. Ralston was planning to lead the group. Really gets under his skin with his daughter living here.” David shot a glance at Denver before he picked up the bottle of water, as did the younger man, and they made their way back out of the post. We all exited from our side and watched as they headed back down the road without their truck and without them turning back to wave.

  “Let’s let West and Johnnie have some alone time. We can go eat the rest of our food, and discuss some ways of increasing security in case these group rumblings are true.” Ever spoke before I could, and was already walking back towards the tent. It took a while for everyone to settle down from their personal chatter before we could get to brainstorming.

  “McCaid, I promise I had no idea what my Dad was doing.” Denver for once looked ashamed of her father. “I could try to get him to come visit, tell him the truth, and try to talk him into understanding.”

  “Denver, it’s okay. Our Dad’s both seemed to have betrayed us lately. Look me in the eye and tell me that you are with us, and you can stay. You have been a big help as of late.”

  “I swear to you I want to stay and help.” Denver never looked more serious.

  “Okay, then let’s get to planning a way to improve security.” I was about to walk away when she surprised me with a quick hug. I didn’t even have time to hug her back before she had returned to her seat beside Darcy.

  We spent the next two hours coming up with a rotating schedule for viewing the property monitors, as well as taking teams of three to patrol the main fence, while armed. We decided not to focus on the back fifteen acres for now, because it’s a complete dome, it meant that there wasn’t much chance of a break in. We also decided to turn on some of the solar panels that Henry and Sasha had put in the back acres to increase the power we have stored. I had the first shift of watching the monitors and Ever, Milo and Sasha had first shift for patrolling the fence line. We unanimously decided that Sasha didn’t need a gun, but she suggested a bow and arrow, and we agreed.

  I grabbed a cup of milk and some cookies to help tide me over while I sat behind the desk of the monitors in the basement. I co
uldn’t believe the predicament that Dad had gotten us into. I think I might have been in too much shock to be as angry as I should, but then who would have thought my dad could have been involved in anything like this. While sitting at the desk, I realized that none of us had ever checked the drawers in our desk. I begin searching the drawers in between scanning the monitors. I was only finding service plans for each of the monitors when I came upon a filed marked “CONFIDENTIAL”. Inside were papers that looked like a letter of some sort, which was written in Mom’s handwriting.

  “If you are reading this that means I have passed. I, Elizabeth Antoinette Dobbins, have a few confessions to make. One, I love my two daughters and my husband more than anything in my life. Two, I fear that some of my rambling during my weakened episodes may lead to my husband doing things that I suggested but don’t wholeheartedly believe. I believe that each life is precious, no matter what the chances of illness may be. During my weakened states, while in private conversations with my husband, I lamented about how I wished that I could spare my daughters from ever having to go through heartache like this again. My loving husband had whispered that all three of them love me and not to worry about the sickness, he would take care of everything.”

  I had to take a minute to breathe, and realized that tears were rolling down my face. My sweet mother, even as she was dying had been trying to save my Dad from falling too far away, and to show her daughters that we should always stand by him. I remember “trust him” was always what she told me “no matter what.” I took another minute to scan the monitors and saw Ever, Sasha and Milo making their first rounds. I wondered what Mom would have said about this situation, or if she had lived would we have even been in this situation. After seeing that everything at the moment was okay, I went back to where I had left off.

  “I would talk about how great it would be that whatever man they chose to marry would be free from any pre-destined sickness that would cause early death. My Vic told me that he had joined a group of people who had been commissioned by the government to help create a dormant virus in a vaccine that would eventually be awakened in case of population control. He would tell me as we were laying down for bed that he had suggested only presenting the dormant virus to those who were found to have genetic predisposition for certain diseases such as cancer. He whispered frantically about how this would ensure that our girls could marry for love and avoid this heartache. On the nights that I was more coherent, I would try to convince him that it was not our place to make those decisions that only our God could, but in my weakened states his theories made sense. I will forever be haunted by my weakness, even in death, if it leads to his success in creating this virus. I have made it my mission to find the strength even in my weakened state to convince him to get away from this group. Lastly, I would like to apologize for hiding his cure he created from him. I knew that if he had access to it, he would be able to destroy it if he deemed it necessary. I hope that it may one day come in handy, if found. I know that there is a chance that you My loving Victor finds and reads this so I will not disclose its locations, but know it is out there and if found will help with deactivating the virus. I love you and will eternally miss you. Remember to make the right choices, and to prepare for whatever life may present to you.”

  A cure, Mom knew dad had created a cure, and she hid it. Where would Mom hide the cure that Dad would not find it? I had to bring Darcy in on this, she had to right to read the letter. Plus she might know something I don’t.

  “Darcy” I got on the intercom. “Please come down here to the lab.”

  “Be right down.”

  She was down in the lab only after a few minutes. She came alone thankfully, even though Denver wasn’t as annoying to me as she had been in the past. I still felt like this was something for Darcy to see on her own. I explained what I found and gave her the letter. She sobbed through it. After finishing it, I allowed her to catch her breath. I was sure it was harder for her to read than I, since she had little to no memories of Mom.

  “Darce, do you know of any place that Mom might have hidden a cure from Dad?” She shook her head, then stopped with a wide-eyed look like a light bulb went on over her head.

  “Caidee, actually I think I might. I have flashbacks of being little and Momma giving me a sheet of paper asking me to hide it in my piggy bank. She would tell me that it needed to stay in there for a long time and not to ever check it until I knew it was the right time. I think she meant like now!”

  “Go, now! Run up to your room and get it!” She was halfway out the door by the time I finished telling her to get the piggy bank. I called Henry down to watch the monitors so I could follow her. It seemed like hours before he got down, I told him I’d explain later, kissed his cheek and went off to follow her.

  She was just breaking up the bank she had kept in the top of her closet when I got to the room. I was out of breath from running up the two flights of stairs. It might have been comical if we weren’t both so nervous to read what was on the paper.

  “Open it Darce.”

  “I will hold on.” She finally got the paper out and opened. On it was just a few words, which instantly let me know that it couldn’t be the cure, but maybe a clue.

  “What’s it say?”

  “In the forest is a spring, in the spring is a wall, in the wall is the cure.”

  “My spring! Darcy come on, I know what she’s talking about!” I didn’t waste any time sprinting back down the steps to the main floor and out the foyer. I knew Darcy could keep up, she was an excellent runner. The snow was still in certain placed in the woods from where the sun hadn’t reached it just yet so we made sure to avoid it as much as possible. The spring was fed from underground water, so I knew it wouldn’t be frozen. I stopped and sat down on a rock when we got there trying to catch my breath. The cold air was really hurting my lungs, and tears in my eyes from the cold stinging them. I scooted some so Darcy could join me. She was breathing heavy too, but not quite as bad as I.

  “It has to be somewhere underneath the water in the rocks. It’s deep so she had to be able to get to in in a weakened state. I just have to work up the courage to put my hand in the ice cold water.” I gave a short giggle.

  “I’ll do it. You’ve been doing so much lately let me do this.” I looked at Darcy. She had changed a lot in the last six months. She lost some of the babiness in her face, and she had started to wear her hair differently. She was growing up. I was the only one around from our family anymore to witness it. She was absolutely beautiful. She gave me a weird look. “What are you staring at Caid?”

  “You, Darce. You’re beautiful. You’re growing up. I’m sorry it’s just me around now.”

  “Oh, Caidee.” She gave me a tight hug, then jumped up quickly and went to the edge of the spring. She basically threw her hand in the water and starting feeling around the walls. She was squealing about the cold some, but kept searching. She scooted closer to the edge and dipped her hand in deeper. I thought she found the hole when she pointed quickly to the other side. “Look, Caid.” I could see a rock on the other side of where we were that looked out of place. She went over to the other side and grabbed the rock out of the water. She handed it to me.

  “I don’t think it’s a rock.” I was turning the rock over when I noticed a slight crack. I pushed on the area of the crack and a hidden compartment slide out of the other side. Inside was a baggy with a folder sheet of paper. I opened the bag and pulled out the paper. Once unfolded, we found the correct mixtures and ingredients for the inhibitor, or as Mom had called it, the cure. “We need to get this to the guys in the lab to compare it with what they have, so they can tweak theirs if necessary.” Darcy nodded in agreement.

  “Hey little girls!” Turning quickly we noticed a group of men and women standing about fifteen feet away. We had forgot our weapons, not that they would necessarily work through the fence, but they didn’t know about the fence just yet. And, if they learned they may figure out that they could get
over, though highly doubtful, which is why we had decided to always have weapons on us. “You’re awful brave being so far away from the group and being unarmed. What do you have in your hands?”

  “A rock.” I should probably have sounded more scared than sarcastic, but some things are so ingrained into our personalities they’re not always controllable. “What are you doing here on our property anyways?”

  “Well Dobbins, you dear father, took our loved ones from us, leaving his fully healthy and provided for, so we decided to return the favor.” The voice came from a scraggily older man, with torn clothes.

  “I don’t think that’s very nice, do you? Besides there’s a bunch of you, and just two of us teenagers.” Darcy said.

  “Oh, we know all about you two. You all aren’t just some hopeless teenagers.” Another man spoke from the group.

  “We have some things to take care of, if you don’t mind, we’ll be leaving now. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re not like our father. We think we found the cure, it’s very important that we get back to our group or they’ll start looking for us. Without us, the cure might not get distributed. If you hurt us, you’ll be in a way hurting the love ones of even more people. That’ll be on you as well as my Dad.” I stood up taller, larger, trying to make myself appear strong.

  “Like we would believe a Dobbins.” A man from the back raised his gun and fired. Several of the women in the group screamed. Luckily the fence disintegrated the bullet about two feet in, because the shot was aimed straight towards Darcy.

  “What the hell was that?” The mad in front, who must have been the leader spun around the face the shooter. “I didn’t say shoot yet. We won’t hurt or kill either of them until we get all information from them.”