“I will give you a head start, Rev. When I get back from my meeting with Denver, I am sure he will have authorized your execution. Good luck.”
Cornelius took off running as fast as he could. Rueben watched the direction he took off running in and turned himself toward the house. His next move was to visit Denver and get authorization for the order to kill the traitor Cornelius.
REUNION
The Glade
Mitchell Homestead
Darrick was sitting alone in the glade next to his brother, Jimmie’s grave. He was contemplating his life and how much had happened in the past few years. His conclusion was that he felt he didn’t have a lot left to live for. His dad was senile and didn’t know Darrick’s face; his wife was slowly being taken by a cancer in her ovaries, and her prognosis wasn’t good; his son, Andy, might not even be his son; his brother had been murdered by men who didn’t know him; and to top it off, there was a company-sized group of raiders fixing to make their move onto his property at any moment.
His mind had spent some time on these matters, and his gut told him to run, but his logic told him his dad wouldn’t make any trip away from the shelter of his home. Tonya would most likely slow them down in time. The only thing he could think of was to lure the group away from the homestead, but even that was only buying a moment. In time, the property would be discovered. If not by the raiders, then by some other group of hostiles.
With his mind made up, he geared himself for a talk with the women. How would he approach them with the news? He knew in his heart they would try to talk him out of it, but they had to go alone. Perhaps to Pontybridge, a town several miles south, but even that might be laden with dangers. At least there, they could take cover and wait for the Omen to move on to another area. There were so many details. So many things to consider that weighed on the decision. Each move affected the other in some way.
“Mitchell,” a familiar voice said from behind him. Caught off guard by the silent approach, Darrick didn’t have his rifle ready. It was Marcus.
“You don’t need that with me,” Marcus said, seeing Darrick’s tight grip on the rifle. “What are our assets?”
Darrick stood up and walked over to Marcus and punched him square in the face. Marcus took the punch.
“I suppose I deserved that. I just want you to know that we both thought you were dead,” Marcus said, rubbing his jaw.
“I was in rehab from wounds sustained in that mortar attack. I was told the official report was that I was MIA until they found my body floating on the bank of the Nile. It took months before I could even walk a straight line. I have plates in my left leg, shrap in my chest, and a few really cool scars.”
It was the last comment that made Marcus smile. “You haven’t changed much, buddy.”
“More than I show.”
“So, what’s our list of assets?”
“Me, you, Tonya, my sister-in-law Carissa, Kara, whom I believe you’ve already met, several acres of hilly land, some woods and a couple of rifles, pistols, and a handful of ammunition.”
“That’s not enough.”
“I know. I was going to lure them away from the homestead and maybe buy the family a head start. They can hide at Pontybridge until the fight is over or they move on.”
“They still don’t know where you are.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I’ve been doing some thinking of my own. You’re about the only family I have left, Mitchell. Anyway, while I was doing my thinking thing, I saw a tracker on the plains. I only saw him in the distance, so I hunkered down and hid. There should be two, but I never saw the other. We need to be careful. He could be watching us now.”
“I might be able to get some information on where the second one is.”
“How so?”
“I understand that Tonya and another woman named Kara helped you get away from the Omen?”
“The Enclave.”
“Huh?”
“It’s called the Enclave. But Denver hates it being called the Omen, so call it that if you want to.”
“Okay, well, it’s a long and traumatic story, but Kara was captured by a lone man and assaulted by him. Apparently, Tonya left her to her own fate and made off without her. I’m thinking she may know something about the guy.”
“Can we go find out without stirring up a hornet’s nest?”
“That depends,” Darrick said.
“On what?”
“On whether or not you still have feelings for Tonya.”
“Darrick, I can’t make the past go away, and I can’t make old feelings stay down, but you have my word, I would never do anything to cause you grief. What you and Tonya have is legit. I won’t interfere.”
“One more question…”
“Sure.”
“Why did you need saving? What did you do, and how did you come to be with them?”
“That’s a lot of questions! I was already in the area when the Pulse hit us. I did like most people did and tried to make do for a while, but when I understood what was really happening, I went into survival mode. You know as well as I do that a man in survival mode is full-on beast mode! I did what I had to do to survive. I stole, killed, and destroyed to feed myself. I did that for some time. When the Enclave came through the area, I took the Red Circle pledge.”
“What’s that?”
“Basically, I swore my life to the Enclave in exchange for food, shelter, and water. Later, I was added to a group of scouts and directed to find Shawn, Larry, and Maxim. That excursion led me here, where I found you and Tonya. Now that I’ve betrayed them, they won’t rest until I’m dead. I tried to distance myself from you to keep them away from you and Tonya, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized they weren’t going to stop until you were dead, too. I figure we’re stronger together. So I committed myself to that old brotherhood we shared in the Corps. I’ve got your six, Mitchell.”
“It’s good to hear. What do you think we should do?”
“There’s a group of survivalists south of here, in Pontybridge. There’s people there I know, but they’re not doing so well. I’m not sure if they’ll take us in, but it’s worth a try.”
Darrick smiled at Marcus and nodded his head. “Okay. Let’s end this.”
Later
Tonya, Carissa, and Andy were sitting in the front room. Carissa was reading a book to Andy, and Tonya was curled upright on the couch when the secret door knock was heard on the front door.
Tonya stood from the couch and said, “I’ll get it.”
She opened the door and saw Darrick. Right behind him was Marcus. She was shocked to see them both together for the first time.
“Where’s Kara?” Darrick asked.
“Out back where she belongs.”
“Me and Marcus need to have a word with her,” he said, pushing past Tonya. They cut through the house to get to her. Marcus could feel the tension. He’d also noticed Tonya’s expression when Darrick asked for Kara. He wondered how much trouble his presence brought with it.
Kara was sitting on the wooden table out back when the door opened. She looked over and saw both Darrick and Marcus together.
“Together again.” She smiled, sitting up to meet them both.
“Kara, I think you’ve already met Marcus. Can you tell us what you know about the man who attacked you yesterday?”
She had a clear bruise on the left side of her face where the man had hit her.
“Well, he was wearing a plaid shirt, and the sleeves were torn off –”
“But was he alone?” Darrick interrupted.
“I thought I already established that. Yes, I think he was, but I had no way of knowing for certain. He was the only one at that location, yes.”
“I’m sorry I never asked before, but how did you get away?”
“It’s alright. I managed to free myself from the rope he used to restrain me. After that I stabbed him in the gut with my knife. He came at me again and I managed to get my
knife back. He was too horny to know that though. Long story short, when he was on me again, I cut his throat. It must’ve been his carotid artery because blood jetted several feet off to the side. He was easy to knock off at that point.”
“Can you take us to that location?” Marcus asked.
“Sure,” she answered hesitantly. “Whatever you need,” she said, smiling at Darrick.
Kara jumped down off the table and fetched her gear. She also grabbed the sniper rifle that she’d hidden in the woods just after her confrontation with Tonya.
Tonya was watching and listening from the back door. She regretted that Kara hadn’t been killed by the man at the dilapidated house and wasn’t sure how things could be sustained at the status quo. So she waited to see how things would play out. There had never been a moment in her life when she’d felt so much malice. The entire experience was new to her. Adapting to this way of thinking would radically change her personality for the worse and possibly even speed up her physical deterioration. With all the added stress, she was feeling more and more under the weather. The pains were more frequent; some powerful, some not so much.
As she stood there in the kitchen, Darrick came into the house alone. He needed to grab his gear. When he met Tonya in the kitchen, he could see that she was troubled, but misunderstood what was troubling her. He grabbed a pack from the front room floor and met her again in the kitchen. This time he gave her a kiss on the lips.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. We’re just going to see what we can find out about this guy who attacked Kara and –”
Tonya turned away from the conversation as soon as he said Kara. Darrick gently grabbed her by the jaw and turned her face up to meet his. “We need to identify the man. Only Marcus can do that. If he was one of them, then that means there’s another one or two more of them out there.”
“You can’t keep leaving us alone like this. Remember the last time? And the time before that? Each time you run off, everything goes south.”
Darrick looked behind her and saw Carissa standing there. It was a staunch reminder of what had happened to Jimmie.
“Marcus and Kara can go. Stay here with me,” she pleaded.
“Alright,” he said, conceding to his wife’s plea. He dropped the pack and went to tell Marcus and Kara the decision.
“Hey, guys, I’m going to stay behind to watch over the fam’.”
Kara was noticeably disturbed by the decision, but Marcus seemed okay with it. “No problem,” Marcus replied.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” Kara said.
They stepped off.
Darrick stood in the back door and watched them as they walked away. His arms were folded and he seemed content with the final decision. Tonya walked up to him and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. Carissa saw the affection and instantly thought of Jimmie. She missed him dearly, but was over her anger toward Darrick for the way it had happened. She felt he was complicit, but not guilty.
As Tonya stood there with Darrick, hugging him, Andy entered the kitchen. “When can I go outside to play again?”
“Not yet, buddy. It’s still not safe.”
“It’ll never be safe again, will it?”
The directness of children. Darrick knew it would never be safe again. Even if they succeeded and the Enclave never found the homestead, there would be other dangers. Other people that would come. The world was not the same. It was different. Hostile. Deadly.
“Mom’s getting sicker,” Andy said. He was more observant than he let on.
Darrick ignored the comment. Hoping not to add another set of issues to his plate. It was unavoidable. Inevitable. Tonya had a deadly cancer and it was living inside her. Growing every day. Eventually, they would have to face that set of fears. But for now, their minds were on the present.
The dilapidated shack
Kara led Marcus right up to the body of the man who attacked her. He was already covered in flies, and maggots were wriggling in the corners of his eyes. Each of them held their noses to shield against the horrific odor of decay.
“That’s him. That’s the guy. Do you recognize him?”
“I do. It’s Frank Bentley.”
“And?”
“And he’s got a twin brother named Trent.”
Mitchell Homestead
Knock, knock, knock.
Carissa, Tonya, and Darrick froze in their spots. The front door came alive with activity. They knew it wasn’t Kara, because they had all agreed on a very specific knock, knock, pause, knock signal. “It could be Marcus,” Darrick whispered. “We didn’t share the knock with him.”
“Kara would have told him before sending him back, right?” Carissa asked.
“I doubt she wants him dead. He can’t run interference if he’s not around to do it,” Tonya said.
The comment went over Carissa’s head, but Darrick knew what she was implying. Now wasn’t the time to dispute affairs and old flings.
“Tonya, can you take Andy up to the hiding spot and help keep Dad quiet? He’s starting to stir around up there.”
“Yeah,” she said, taking Andy by the hand and rushing him up the stairs.
Darrick looked at Carissa and said, “Can you hide behind the window and door with Dad’s shotgun? I’ll call on you when, and if, I need backup.”
“You got it,” she said, lifting the floorboard up to grab the shotgun from its hiding place.
Darrick reached into his pack and pulled out his pistol. He leaned the rifle against the trim of the door frame between him and Carissa. With the pistol in his right hand, he looked through the window of the door. It was a bearded man. Rough-looking.
Darrick wanted to go out through the back door and attempt an surprise attack, but in doing so, he could be falling into an ambush. The best course of action was the direct approach.
“What do you want?” Darrick shouted through the door and listened for a reply. The house could hear the conversation through the silence.
“I’m just looking for my brother. I wonder if you’ve seen him. Can you open the door so we can talk face-to-face?”
“I don’t take kindly to strangers approaching my house, mister. I think it’d be best if you just go about your business.”
The man seemed irritated about the response. Almost like he wasn’t used to being spoken to in such a manner. “What do you do to people who encroach upon your property? You don’t shoot ’em, do you?”
Darrick wanted to shoot the man right through the door, but he didn’t know if there were more of them outside or if he was alone. It put a damper on his tactical responses. The longer the conversation went on, the more risk was being posed to his family and the homestead.
“I’m not telling you again, mister. This is your last chance. Get off my property.”
“I’ll take that as a yes. If I find out you shot my brother, there’ll be hell to pay,” the man said. The stranger started to back off the porch. “I’m just going to look around the yard to see if I can find some evidence that he was here. If you take a pop at me, your story will end here.”
“Quick. Go look out the back window and tell me if you see anybody else. Pay special attention to the hiding spots. Remember, if you can see them, then they can see you. Be careful,” Darrick said to Carissa.
She nodded, then ran for the kitchen with her shotgun in hand. She peered through the window. “I see nothing.”
Darrick gave a quick look through the window at the front of the property while the man was walking away from him. “I don’t see anything either. I’m going out.”
“Be careful,” Carissa said.
Darrick pulled the door open and ran out with his pistol drawn on the stranger. The stranger also had his weapon drawn up and pointed at Darrick.
“Easy there, fella. If you shoot me, this house will burn,” the stranger said.
Darrick was still nervous that the man wasn’
t alone. He wasn’t completely confident that the man was bluffing. After all, who could be so bold as to walk up to a man’s house and make cold threats? Darrick nervously kept his pistol trained on the man.
“I didn’t come here for a problem,” the stranger said.
“Well, you found it,” Darrick replied.
“There’s no need to be uncivil about this.”
Darrick did a visual scan of the rifle that was pointing at him. It was the same make and model as the sniper rifle that Kara had. Was it hers?
“Where’d you get that rifle, pal?”
“Why? Have you seen it before?” the man asked.
Darrick had unwittingly given the man a clue to the answer he was seeking. Darrick’s slowness to reply validated something the man was considering.
“You know what? Never mind. I think I may have stumbled onto the wrong man’s property.”
There was yelling coming from inside the house. The stranger heard the commotion. “It sounds like you’ve got some domestic affairs to tend to. I’ll be on my way.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“You gonna stop me?”
Darrick and the stranger were having a standoff. It was a catch-22 for each of them. A checkmate.
Elder Mitchell came bursting through the front door. Tonya was immediately behind him. James fell down the stairs of the front porch. The stranger laughed. James wallowed around on the ground while Darrick used his left hand to hold Tonya back. When Tonya looked at the man’s face, she gasped.
After The Pulse (Book 1): Homestead Page 16