The stranger caught it. “You’ve seen me before, haven’t you?”
“That’s him,” she said in a soft voice. “That’s the man who attacked Kara.”
“Kara killed that man, Tonya,” Darrick said.
“She’s a liar. That’s him. I’d recognize him in a lineup of a thousand men.”
“I wish you wouldn’t have said that, pretty thang,” the stranger said. “I came here looking for my brother – my twin brother. Now I hear that he’s dead. Kara, you said? Is that who killed ’im?”
“Don’t answer him,” Darrick said. Then he turned his attention back to the stranger. “I suppose that if you had any compadres, they’d be here already, eh?”
“I didn’t say they were here, but they know I’m here. If I don’t return –”
Crack! Crash!
The front room window shattered, and the man fell to the ground grabbing his chest. The rifle was also lying on the ground just out of reach. Darrick turned toward the sound. Carissa had taken the shot that Darrick wouldn’t. From the cover of the front room, she’d seen the man and heard the conversation. She was prepared to take the risk. In any case, the man was now dying and he seemed to be alone. Tonya and Darrick stood silently still, but there was nothing. No movement, no shouting, no anything. Darrick looked back down at the man. He was slow to die, so Darrick took a knee on his neck, cutting off the man’s flow of oxygen. Within a few seconds, the man was gone.
Darrick was zoned out. He watched the man as he stopped breathing, but his mind wasn’t even on him. He was thinking about how much Carissa had changed. Not too long ago she had been berating him for talking about killing men. Darrick didn’t know if he should be frightened or impressed.
“Darrick,” Tonya said.
Snapping awake from his daydream, he looked at Tonya. “I want you to get Dad and Andy to Pontybridge at first light. If the Omen is heading west, then we’ll head south and hopefully lose them.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be with you unless Marcus and Kara aren’t back by first light.”
“And if they’re not?”
“Then I’m going after them.”
Tonya sighed.
“I know you’re not fond of Kara, but she’s a good person, and Marcus is my friend. He has some connections at Pontybridge. When you guys get there, drop his name and wait for us.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“I’m not sure about anything anymore. The landscape has changed, and nothing is the way it should be. Survival changes people. It brings out the worst in humanity.”
“What do you plan on doing in the meantime?”
“I have to get rid of the body,” he answered, acknowledging the dead man on his front lawn.
Carissa stepped outside.
“Nice shot, by the way.”
“Thanks. I just took the shot you wouldn’t.”
It was kind of a rub on Darrick’s ego to have to hear that he had been outperformed by Carissa.
“Can you help me get Dad back in the house?” Darrick asked her.
“Sure,” Carissa answered, assisting Tonya and Darrick in getting elder Mitchell to his feet.
James was able to walk on his own once he was up. Tonya took over and escorted him back into the house.
“I heard you talking to Tonya. You mentioned Pontybridge,” Carissa said. “Jimmie always told me to avoid communities. He said there’s always trouble to be found where people mass.”
“I think he gave you some pretty sound advice, but I’m not one to discredit any advice Marcus might give me, either. I think if they stay mindful and observant, they’ll be fine.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Darrick rapidly shot back.
“Well, you’re not exactly known for your good judgment, so I’ll consider your rebuke another bad choice.”
Darrick turned to face Carissa. He wasn’t looking for a confrontation, but she needed to hear what he had to say. “I need you to be with Tonya. She’s sick, and it’s getting worse every day.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“All the added drama with Kara and that isn’t helping. I try to minimize where possible, but I don’t think anything I do is going to help. She’s an emotional roller coaster.”
“I’ve noticed that, too. She won’t be happy until Kara is gone.”
“Do you think she left Kara to die?”
“Honestly?” Carissa asked, looking to the house to make sure Tonya wasn’t listening. “I do. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned,” she whispered.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“The way I see it, you can either tell her things aren’t working out or Tonya will have to live with it.”
“That’s the problem, though. Tonya can’t live with it. What if I’m killing her?”
“Then that’s something you’ll have to live with. Either way, Kara goes or Kara stays.”
Carissa could see Darrick’s conflict, but no advice would solve the problem. He was going to have to make a decision.
“Look,” Carissa added, “I don’t mean to be cold or indifferent, but Tonya’s dying regardless of what you decide. Keeping Kara will speed things. If you only have so much time left with Tonya, why would you hang it out on a limb like a piñata?”
Darrick walked away from the conversation, tired of the topic. He fetched the wheelbarrow from the toolshed and brought it to the front, where Carissa helped him load the man’s body onto it.
“Need any help digging the hole?” she asked.
“No, thanks. I got it.”
“I’m going to join you anyway. I haven’t visited Jimmie’s grave since…”
“Okay,” he answered.
The Glade
Several minutes later, Darrick was sweating over the shallow hole he’d dug for the man’s body. Carissa kept him company as she sat across the way, close to Jimmie’s grave. Darrick was beginning to notice that the graves were becoming shallower with each new hole he dug. He was over it.
“Four feet should do,” he said, standing up to wipe his brow. “I’m tired of burying people. I’m done. This is my last.” Darrick rolled the man over into his grave. This time, the man landed facedown. Darrick didn’t care. He was jaded beyond repair. He spat on the man’s body and shoveled the loose soil back into its spot.
Carissa stood up and walked over to Darrick. “Thank you for placing the marker on Jimmie’s grave,” she said, rubbing Darrick’s arm. The bond they were forming was far more than it had been when he first arrived on their doorstep. Even Jimmie’s death had caused a bit of discord between them, but she seemed to have moved on past that.
“It wasn’t a problem. He’s my brother. He deserves far better treatment than these guys are getting. I’m done burying people. They’re like animals, so I’m going to treat them like animals.”
The two of them left the cemetery together and shared memories of Jimmie as they went.
The dilapidated house
“I have what I need,” Marcus said. “We need to be heading back to warn Mitchell. Trent’s gotta be close to them by now. The Bentley brothers are trackers. I’m sure either you or Tonya led him straight back to the house. I’m surprised we didn’t run into him on the way.”
“I took another route back that night. That could explain why we didn’t see him this trip. I was alone, so I took to the woods. If he followed that trail, then he’ll be coming out on the west side of the house,” Kara answered.
“Did you hear that?” Marcus said, holding his finger up to shush Kara.
“Hear what?”
“Shh, listen.”
It was faint, but each of them could hear the sounds of a man yelling for help. It was coming from an easterly direction. Marcus climbed up the old television antenna that was attached to the house and looked out across the field. It was a man, and he was running from a crowd of men. “Hand me that scout rifle,” he said.
> Kara passed the long-range rifle to him.
He grabbed it and peered through the scope. “We need to get out of here, now,” he said, climbing down.
“What is it? What did you see?”
“I think it’s an Enclave war party, and they’re chasing down a man tight with the leader of the group, which means he committed an offense against the Red Circle. He’s marked for death, and we will be too if they see us.”
When Marcus was on the ground, he gave the sniper rifle back to Kara. He took off running and she was close behind.
CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG
Mitchell Homestead
Darrick and Carissa exited the glade and immediately saw a plume of smoke rising into the air from behind the house. “Oh, God,” Darrick said, scared for the lives of Tonya and Andy. He took off running as fast as he could. When he was close enough, he saw that the old barn was ablaze. He ran to the house and knocked on the door. Tonya opened it.
“Where’s Andy?”
Tonya’s lack of a rapid response let him know that she had no idea where he was.
“Tonya, where’s Andy?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been settling your dad down.”
Darrick took off through the house, calling for Andy, but didn’t get a response.
Carissa ran around to the back of the house and saw Andy standing near the old barn, which was blazing several yards into the air.
Inside the house, Darrick ran to the back door and opened it to see Carissa running up to Andy. She grabbed him by the hand to pull him away from the fire. When she did, she inadvertently grabbed a box of waterproof matches. She put them in her pocket and rushed Andy to safety. Darrick and Tonya were now outside and running toward Carissa and Andy.
“What are you doing?” Darrick yelled at Andy.
“Nothing,” he yelled back.
“Why are you outside by yourself, and why were you so close to the fire?”
“I’m getting bored, so I –”
“He went out to play,” Carissa interrupted. “He got bored, so he went out to play.”
“How’d that fire start?” Darrick yelled.
“Darrick, it’s summertime. Anything could’ve caught that old barn on fire,” Carissa said, hiding Andy’s secret from his father.
Darrick took several steps back and took in the enormity of it all. “That smoke is going to signal every survivor in our area that there’s resources here,” he said. “Pack your things. We need to be ready to move.”
Carissa and Tonya whisked Andy away to the house, where they began throwing necessities into the bugout bags. Darrick took to the roof and watched things from a higher perspective. “I could really use that rifle Kara had,” he said. As he scanned the area, he saw what looked like Kara and Marcus heading over the rolling hillside toward the house.
***
“That’s not good,” Marcus said to Kara. Each of them saw the smoke plume from their location. They were still several hundred yards away.
“That looks like Darrick’s place,” Kara added.
“I think you’re right.”
They had been watching the plume for some time, hoping that the fire wasn’t at the homestead. The closer they got to it, the more they realized they had a problem on their hands.
Eventually, Marcus and Kara came running around the southeast side of the burning barn. The heat could easily be felt on their faces as they moved toward the house. Darrick met them in the backyard. Carissa and Tonya stayed indoors with Andy and James.
“Don’t ask,” Darrick said, anticipating Marcus’s question. He pretty much knew that Andy had had something to do with it. “What did you find out?”
“Yeah, man. She killed an Enclave tracker. They usually move out in groups of two. It was a man by the name of Frank Bentley, and he has a twin brother who we think might be in the area,” Marcus answered.
“Yeah, I think I might have buried him a few minutes ago,” Darrick said.
“We can’t stay here, Mitchell. We need to go.”
“I think we can defend the place until the fire goes out. We’ll be good after the smoke clears.”
“That’s not the problem,” Kara said. “Marcus saw a war party, and they had to have seen the smoke by now.”
“A war party?”
About the time Darrick asked the question, a man came running over one of the hills in the distance. He was yelling for help. A murder of crows circled above him.
Darrick grabbed Kara’s sniper rifle from her hand and scoped the man out.
“It’s a man by the name of Cornelius Woods. He’s the right-hand man of the group in question,” Marcus said to Darrick.
“Then he dies,” Darrick responded, placing his finger on the trigger.
“He’s already marked for death, Mitchell. Save your ammo.”
“Explain,” he said, pulling the rifle away from his shoulder.
“It’s a long story, but if I were you, I’d start shooting at the ones coming up over that hill now.”
Darrick’s peripheral vision was restricted to the round confinement of the scope. When he heard Marcus’s statement, he looked up over his scope, then back downrange, where he saw an enormous number of people running after the man. The sounds of gunfire could also be heard breaking the silence of the countryside. Darrick was in awe of the size of the incoming group of men. “Marcus, how’s your aim?”
“Do you have a death wish? We need to run!”
Bang , Darrick’s rifle blasted. He saw a man drop through his scope. The crowd of men who were chasing Cornelius stumbled over the man Darrick had shot. It slowed the crowd down, to a point, but Darrick’s decision might have escalated the situation. There was a crack against the house behind where Darrick, Marcus, and Kara were standing. It startled them and they ducked about the same time the sound of the shot reached their ears.
Carissa and Tonya came running outside after hearing the loud crack.
“What was that?” Tonya asked.
“Get back in the house. It’s not safe out here.”
Tonya and Carissa looked past Darrick into the distance and saw the man and the crowd behind him.
Cornelius reached the protection of Darrick and Marcus. He tried to run past them, but Darrick swung his rifle like a baseball bat by the barrel and hit the man in the forehead.
Cornelius fell to the ground.
The women ran back inside.
Darrick aimed his rifle back toward the crowd and scoped out his next target.
Bang . The rifle went off again. Darrick dropped another man. The group was starting to scatter across the field, making it more difficult to select a target.
“They’re going into the woods,” Carissa said.
“We need to go, Mitchell,” Marcus said.
“Don’t you get it, Guy! There’s nowhere to go!” Darrick shouted at his friend.
“Pontybridge. We can go to Pontybridge.”
Crack, crack. The sounds of bullets were zinging past them. Marcus was taking cover behind the chicken coop, and Darrick was setting up on the outside table to get more accurate shots.
“Take Kara, Andy, Tonya, and Carissa and leave, Guy! Take care of them for me. I’m staying here. Who knows, if my luck holds out, maybe we’ll be joining you.”
“We? Who’s left?” Marcus asked, not knowing about elder Mitchell.
“My dad. He’s a dusty ol’ fart and slow, too. He’ll never make the evac.”
Bang.
Darrick knocked off another trespasser.
“Can you please tell me before you pull the trigger? I’m going deaf.”
“Tonya’s sick, Guy. She has the cancer.”
Marcus was shocked at the news. “How long?”
“Days. Weeks. We don’t know without a physician. She’s been unmedicated since the Pulse. I’m pulling.”
Marcus covered his ears.
Bang.
“Thanks,” he said, grabbing Darrick’s usual rifle and aiming down the sights to sel
ect a target of his own.
Bang.
Marcus shot a man.
Just over their backs, the sound of breaking glass was heard from the house. Carissa was knocking out her bedroom window. She and Tonya were pointing their rifles out the upstairs windows.
Darrick and Marcus were looking back.
“What is this, the Alamo?” Marcus asked.
“I guess nobody’s fleeing,” Darrick said. “There’s another option that doesn’t involve me staying back with my old man.”
“I’m listening.”
“We can wait for night, then see if we can inch our way to Pontybridge. We can’t move Dad by day. He’s too cranky, too slow, and it’s too risky. Not to mention the fact he’s as stubborn as a mule.”
Darrick was right. There was one way in and out of the Mitchell homestead. It was a one-and-a-half-mile-long dirt and gravel road that was surrounded on either side by woods. They would have to leave immediately if they had any hope at all of making it to the county road, which posed its own dangers. If they waited for dark, they ran the risk of being completely surrounded by the trespassers. The way Darrick saw it, waiting for darkness at least provided them with natural concealment. There was no guarantee either way.
“Okay then. Let’s go with plan B. I like any plan that involves all of us leaving together and me keeping you around for a bit longer. We have some catching up to do.”
***
Later that night
The darkness was smothering beneath a clouded sky. The moon gave no light that could be seen. Tonya fell asleep when things grew quiet outside. Andy was hiding in Carissa’s bedroom closet. Carissa was awake with her rifle pointed out the window. Elder Mitchell was locked in his room. Carissa had used a rope to tether the door handle of his room to the hall closet door across from his room. Darrick and Marcus were downstairs with Kara and Cornelius, who was out on the floor. They were intently watching from the windows, which were all shot or busted out by now. The entire situation felt very surreal to all of them. Their future seemed grim at best, but none of them were willing to lie down and die without a fight. They had a solemn unspoken commitment that they were living and dying together. It was something the adults knew needed to be kept between themselves.
After The Pulse (Book 1): Homestead Page 17