by Geo Dell
And then the others had walked right past her several times this morning looking for the bodies. It was funny how people just didn't think to look up, yet thought they had looked everywhere. They had looked and then they had talked it over, and she had heard that too. And then they had left, and she had heard that conversation as well. She had only waited to make absolutely sure they were gone. Maybe the others that had come and taken the dead would come back. Maybe not. So she had waited.
She started the truck now, backed around and onto the park road, and then shifted into drive and wound her way out through the trees to the main road. She left the park road and turned left onto the main road, heading back to the last truck stop. There were other vehicles there, she remembered. She turned the volume dial up a little higher on the V.H.F. Radio, to get over the sound of the engine, and listened as she drove. Nothing but static. They had fallen silent, but she knew it wouldn't stay that way. She'd heard everything. She knew where they were going, and she'd catch them, she told herself. Take them by surprise. Make them pay!
She pushed at the gas pedal, and the truck surged ahead, she laughed again, adjusted the rear view mirror and pressed the gas pedal down a little farther.
~
Nothing had been hard to find. There had been advertisements in the front of the collapsed store area for steel barns, and in the back, by the loading doors, piles of aluminum beams and corrugated panels, boxes of nuts and bolts.
Bob had backed up a forty foot long flatbed truck to the rear loading dock. It was one of the big stake racks, and after they had loaded up enough steel panels, boxes of nuts and bolts, and aluminum girders and beams, using a propane powered forklift, to build four or five barns, they put the sides back up and began to load other items: seed, hay bales, farming implements, axes and wooden mauls, boxes of nails, screws, grain, a good selection of heavy coveralls, jeans, jackets and work boots. In no time at all the truck was packed, tarped and moved out of the way.
They pulled out late in the afternoon with three of the big trucks loaded and five fifty five gallon drums of gasoline on the back of the last truck. They drove slowly and more than two dozen horses followed them all the way back down to the state park.
They spent the last few hours before dark setting up some more grain in the back of the pickup truck and leading horses down to the stream.
~
“I thought they'd go wild. I thought it would be no time at all before they would have nothing to do with us,” Bob said.
“Don't look that way to me,” David said.
“No, it doesn't. Of course this doesn't mean they'll stay with us or follow us. Leading them a couple miles down the road is a lot different from taking them back into the woods. There are big cats, bears... Horses spook easy. And cows, tomorrow we'll look for cows. We'll leave that truck right there, I believe the horses will stay right with it,” Bob said.
~
Candace walked back with Mike from further upstream where they had gone to clean up.
“I've got to find more clothes tomorrow,” Candace said. “I could've sworn Patty left me some, but I can't find them,” she told him.
“We'll just pick up some more tomorrow,” Mike agreed. He bent down and kissed her, and as he did his eyes fell on the road leading out of the park. Something, he thought...
“What,” Candace said startled, turning quickly.
“I,” Mike started.
“Fuck. The truck is gone,” Candace said. She reached down and slipped off the leather thong that held the gun in its holster. Almost instantly one finger slid down the side of the frame and flicked off the safety. She knew it was off because she made herself practice flicking it off until it was second nature.
Mike called out to Bob and the others and they began to search.
They spread out but kept each other in sight as they searched the campground. Tom found wrappers from band aids, and a pile of dirty clothes nearby. Everyone walked over and looked.
“I guess they don't care if we know or not,” Candace said. She bent over and retrieved the pants, staring at the blood stain on one leg. A ragged hole in the back of the leg and a neat small circle at the front where it had gone in. “A woman, or a girl. Overly small for a man or a boy,” Candace said. “Shot.”
“Looks like you did get her after all then, Tom,” Bob said. “This may not be everybody, but this has to be our missing girl. When you shot down at the truck, you hit her.”
Their eyes picked up the rest of the clues: The empty food bowl, the half empty tube of the antibiotic cream.
“So, she just came in here... helped herself to our clothes, food, drugs... took the truck... and?” Candace said looking around.
“No telling what else,” Mike said. “Guess we're back on guard duty tonight though.”
“I think we're missing a radio too,” Ronnie said. He was coming back from the direction of the tents. “All my stuff was gone through, my radio is gone.”
“Do you think she's smart enough to figure out the difference?” Tom asked.
“Absolutely. If she's everything Cindy says she is,” Bob answered. “Anyway, we've got to assume she figured it out, that she's listening to everything we say. Probably already did today.”
“What is the difference?” Cindy asked, feeling foolish.
“We were monitoring you guys on C.B., but we do all of our personal talking on a marine radio. V.H.F.,” He held the radio up so she could see it. “Looks the same as a C.B., but talking on this, they couldn't hear us,” Mike explained.
“So that's how you knew we were coming. Not that I'm mad. I'm glad, the way things turned out. Will she notice? If she took the radio, she already has it figured out, don't you think?” Cindy asked. “I can't see no... any, reason she would take it otherwise. If she was here last night, maybe hiding, waiting... she probably heard you talking on them... saw you.”
“Had to be her that took the bodies as well. I can see her own people, but why Jeff?” Tom asked.
“I don't think she took Jeff, Tom. I don't know,” Mike said.
“What's not to know?” Tom asked.
“Well, she weighs, what, maybe around a hundred pounds? Maybe?” He looked over at Cindy who nodded.
“So?” Tom said.
“So, how does a hundred pound girl drag a full grown man that weighs over two fifty out of the woods?” Ronnie asked.
“And we didn't hear him,” Cindy added.
No one answered.
“Well, had to be her. I mean, you ain't buyin' that Zombie shit are you?” Tom asked. He looked at Mike and then slowly around at the rest.
“No, I'm not ready to believe that. Look at those horses today. They've been living out. Nothing's bothered them. I don't know what Jeff saw. I wasn't there.” Mike sat back on one of the picnic table tops.
Candace nodded. “Well, who's watching when?” she asked after a short pause.
~
Janet wrote down the mileage, thirty five miles, and it had taken all day. All three vehicles were nearly empty, and the cans on the back of the trucks were dry. There were also dozens of new scrapes and dents in the bodies of the trucks. They had come through some rough country, even traveling over the relatively flat lowlands they had traveled. She was also surprised at how much gas the trucks had burned once the going got rough, and they were in four wheel drive constantly. That seemed to double the gas consumption. But the short gas rations and the dented trucks didn't matter overly much to Janet Dove anymore. They were going no further.
They had found a notch in the second mountain chain. They had driven up out of the lowlands, labored upward in four wheel drive, and they had finally slipped through the rock and gravel passage into a long, flat bottomed valley nestled between two ranges.
At the opposite end, at least several miles distance, a dark fringe of heavy woodlands had been visible in the dimming light. When they had passed through the notch, they had rolled out onto a wide stone ledge.
Another ledg
e, wider in places, narrowed in others, gradually dropped down to the valley floor. The main branch ran up to the rocky base of the mountain and into it about fifty feet deep, forming a large sheltered overhang. A small stream cut down one side of the pass not two hundred yards away. They had found the home that Bob had sent them to find. They would go no further.
Janet was positive, gradual though the shelf was, that the trucks would never make it down to the valley floor in one piece. She wouldn't try it anyway, she told herself. Maybe Bob or Michael, but not her.
They had started a fire under the overhang, turned the dogs loose to sniff out the darker regions of the overhang where Janet suspected there was at least one large cave going back into the rock. The dogs seemed fine, a little nervous, a little bone weary from two days of nonstop travel and being bounced around in the backs of the truck, but they all were.
They took out blankets, sleeping bags, food and left the rest for the next day. Patty took charge of the watch, and before the sun was fully down, she had the posts working on a rotating basis.
~
Patty laughed as she sat sipping coffee with Janet by the fire, waiting for the water to heat in a large iron pot for dinner.
“Funny, we left a cave, came all this way, and here we are in a cave again,” she shook her head. The smile on her face stayed put. Janet answered it with one of her own.
“It feels right though, doesn't it?” Janet asked.
Patty grew sober, “It does. I can't put my finger on the feeling, but you're right. It feels like we're supposed to be here,” she agreed.
Janet nodded. She tested the water, then added a large portion of rice to the water and began to stir it occasionally.
In another pot suspended over the fire, beans simmered. Thick chunks of canned beef, fortified with some of their own dried beef, bubbled with the beans.
“You think they're okay?” Patty asked Janet quietly.
Janet met her eyes, “I don't know, Patty. I... I don't feel one way or the other about it. I... I've been praying to God. I got it from Lilly, I guess, but I'm praying, and I hope they're okay,” she said softly. Her eyes were moist, but she rubbed the back of one hand quickly across them, refusing to let the tears come.
She sighed deeply and then planted a smile back on her face.
“We'll get this straightened out tomorrow, fixed up. It's quite good, isn't it? We have water. I'm sure there's an actual cave back in there. This looks like limestone, so that would make sense. This will be home for a while I think, and we'll have it fixed up nice for them when they get here, Patty,” Janet finished.
Patty nodded, and blinked back her own tears. Things had happened so fast, she hadn't even been able to kiss Ronnie or Candace goodbye. She had barely been able to say goodbye.
Janet didn't have a feeling, but Patty did, and she told her now.
“For what it's worth, Janet, I do have a feeling. I feel it's going to be all right. I truly do,” Patty leaned over and hugged Janet, and Janet hugged her back.
~
Chloe found a little town just before dark. She went from wrecked store to wrecked store gathering the things she needed. She was alone, but she wasn't afraid. She had spent almost a month as Death's woman. She was sure nothing could scare her after that.
She found a Jeep dealership on the outskirts of town. The show room was collapsed, the garage no better, but dozens of shiny Jeeps of all sorts littered the lot.
She finally found a Wrangler with the keys in the switch. The battery was a little flat, but despite that, it started right up. Getting gas was no longer as easy as it had been with several sets of willing hands, but by the time the Moon was up and the place was really starting to creep her out, she had finally filled the tank and two five gallon Jerry cans she put into the back. Her mouth tasted like gasoline, and she had to admit, she was more than a little high from inhaling fumes. But she considered that a bonus. If only the place didn't creep her out so damn much she'd stay and wait for morning, she thought, get a little sleep.
She climbed into the jeep and was about to start it up, and that was when Duffy hit her in the back of the head with a short piece of a two by four board.
~
Duffy had been drifting long before all of this had happened. This was no inconvenience to him; it was a help. Everything was free now. And there were no cops to tell him what to do. He looked down at Chloe slumped over the steering wheel. And now I have a woman, he told himself. Can things get any sweeter?
~Lillie's journal~
We traveled for two days, and now we're in the middle of nowhere. I mean, like, we're really in the middle of nowhere.
When we came up over this pass, we could see for miles, and there was nothing. No buildings, no quilted farmland, towns, cities, nothing at all. It was almost too big to see. I didn't know there was anywhere left on this planet where you could have a view like that.
But, here we are. We found a cave, really an overhang, but Patty and Janet Dove think there is an actual cave farther back in it. We'll know tomorrow. Patty said it's funny, because we're right back in a cave again, and we are. But Janet said it seems right, and it also does feel right.
I'm worried. We're all worried. We don't know where our men are, or Candace. We don't know what happened at all. And we don't even know how long it will be until we do know something. I wanted to ask, how will they find us? But I just didn't want to upset anyone. I don't think it will be easy at all. Why didn't we think of global positioning? They sell that kind of stuff everywhere. But are there still satellites going around and around up there? Or are they all useless now because of what happened? Did they crash? Lots of questions; almost no answers. And even if we had global positioning, we would not have had the time to use it.
So we'll have to place our hope in the radios. Starting tomorrow we're going to monitor fifteen minutes of every hour during daylight, Patty says. We'll all be hoping. God is with us. Keep us strong. Bring those we love back to us. Amen.
~Candace's journal~
It's not over 'til it's over, they say. We came back today to find out that one of the girls we had thought got away came back while we were gone and took off in the truck the other side left by the woods. We need one more day and we'll be gone, maybe two. So hopefully she won't be back to cause us any trouble.
I am so tired of this. Sometimes I think we should have stayed in the cave in Watertown, fought them there, let it end there. Then I look at Mike, and I love him so much that I want any chance at all at a free life. I'm glad we ran, and all this doesn't seem so bad.
I'm banged up, we all are. At least I'm not missing part of me like Ronnie and David both are. A piece of finger for David, a piece of ear for Ronnie. Patty is going to be so pissed!
Speaking of Patty, and everyone else, we're all worried. We can't reach them on the radios. Bob supposes that they could have gotten out of range. I guess we won't know until we're on our way. And if I don't stop writing and go to sleep...
I'm back. Mike is sleeping now and my head's a lot better. I hope we'll start out tomorrow. God help us.
~In a Dark Place~
Chloe woke up in the pitch dark. Her head was splitting. She sat up, and stars exploded behind her eyes. She fought back the headache and sat still for a few seconds until she felt better.
Someone was snoring close by. She fought the nausea down in her stomach and took several deep breaths to clear her head. She had no idea what it was that had happened. Obviously someone had her, had gotten her somehow. The last thing she remembered was getting into the Jeep. Had she wrecked it? No, that made no sense.
She could smell unwashed flesh and hear the snoring. A man had taken her. Somehow a man had taken her... Was it them?
Her feet were bound, and her hands were also tied behind her back. She could feel her boot knife pressing against her ankle; it was still there if she could get to it. She worked her hands, rubbing them raw before she finally got enough slack to pull one wrist free. It was raw.
She could feel the slick blood. The feet were easier, and then she was free.
She sat blinking. She could see a little now. There was a thin strip of light, like the crack under a door, off to her left, away from the snoring. She considered for a minute and then made up her mind. She stood slowly, carefully, joints screaming, and made her way very quietly across what felt like a hard-packed dirt floor.
She made her way to what turned out to be a door. She pushed it open slowly, looking back over her shoulders as it swung open. She saw the man, a great fat pig of a man. His back to her in the faint moonlight. She eased the old wooden door shut and slowly looked around.
She was in a wooden shack behind the Jeep dealership. So that was it, she thought.
She made her way around to the side of the building. The Jeep sat where it had, the keys still in the ignition. She smiled for the first time, but stopped when it caused her head to scream.
She made her way to the back of the jeep, hefted one of the five gallon Jerry cans, felt her pocket for one of the plastic disposable lighters she always carried to light the huge bomber joints that Death used to roll. She could use one of those right now, she told herself.
She walked back to the shed, upended the can and drenched the exterior of the small wooden shack, the door, and the rest she let run under the door and into the interior. She puddled a small amount of gas back away from the shed, set the can down and screwed the lid back on. Then she set it further back. She'd have to remember to refill that, she told herself. She thumbed the wheel on the cheap lighter, stretched her arm out and touched the small flame to the gasoline. It went up with a low whoosh. She felt it on her eardrums rather than heard it. The flames bit into the dry wood, and Duffy began screaming almost immediately.