“I guess.”
“Anyway, we agreed to follow your sister to the first few houses and see if anyone is around. They’re trying to find a couple of military guys?”
“Oh yeah. I’ve seen them before. I think they’re the ones who drove the steers on to our ranch.”
“Really? What makes you think that?”
“Well, I’ve seen them on dirt bikes tearing up the highway. Those things don’t use much fuel and can get by just about any obstacle. They’re way better than a car or even a truck, for getting around now. I want to find one for myself.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“Yeah, so, after the stray cattle showed up, I rode out and saw tire tracks in the dirt. Tracks that were too small to come from a car, plus they made super tight turns.”
“Why would they drive the cattle on to your ranch and just leave without telling you guys?”
“I guess they knew we were alive and we’d take care of them? After we butchered a couple, Amanda made up a package of beef and left it out on the road in a big orange cooler for them. The meat was gone, but none of us heard anyone. We think they took it. It was my sister’s way of thanking them.”
Hunter squinted to see the road sign of an intersecting road, found it on the map and marked how long it had taken to get there on a separate notepad he’d taken from his truck before leaving. “So, what’s with you and your sister?”
“What do you mean?” Derek sounded defensive, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.
“This morning, before she and my dad left to get your dad, I heard you two talking out by the horses. Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I was taking care of Red and I guess you were right on the other side of the wall.” Derek had sounded angry and defiant. Hunter wouldn’t normally ask questions, but these weren’t normal times and he didn’t want his family to be caught in some kind of family drama going on with Amanda and Derek.
“It’s nothing. She just thinks she’s in charge now and I don’t agree.”
“Who do you think is in charge?”
“My dad.”
“And Amanda doesn’t let him take charge?”
“No, it’s not like she does anything to stop him, but he doesn’t do much.”
“I don’t understand. I thought he was shot?” He wondered how much they expected a wounded man to do.
“That just happened in the last week. Before that, Amanda still acted like she was in charge. She wouldn’t let me and Daniel go anywhere. She practically kept us under lock and key.”
“Sounds like she kept your skinny ass alive.”
“Nah. I’d have been fine. Not sure about my brother but I have street smarts.”
Hunter swallowed a chuckle. “Street smarts?”
“You know what I mean. I know how to take care of myself.”
“Hmmm…well you sound a lot better off than I was last year. I had no clue, but I had to learn quick.”
Derek shot him a look then refocused on the road and evaded a desert tortoise on the pavement. “Why? What happened?”
“I was out west, well, west for me. I was in Colorado at college and my dad called me and told me to get home. Basically, told me not to stop for anything and just drive. This was just before it got bad. It’s complicated, but Elly had given him a heads up.”
Derek’s eyebrow rose but he didn’t ask about that. “And?”
“And…I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, but luckily my dad had told me to get a bunch of camping gear before I left, and I had a bit of food. I found more at a farm where the owners had died. That’s also where I got the horses. And Buddy.”
“That’s your dog?”
“Yeah. He saved my ass a few times too. And kept me from going insane. I felt like I was the only one left alive. I had to cross several states and I wasn’t even sure that when I got there that my family would still be alive. I’d have given anything to already be home with them when it hit.”
“But your mom didn’t die.”
“Not then, no.”
Derek turned and stared at him long enough for Hunter to motion for him to turn his attention back to the road. Even with no traffic, it wasn’t wise to look away for too long.
“When did your mom die?”
“When I was about six.”
“Wow. That sucks.”
“Yeah. It does. Every other kid I knew had a mom and my dad never re-married so I never even had a stepmom.”
“Elly wasn’t there?”
Hunter laughed. “No. I told you it’s complicated. I’ll tell you about it later, but I think we’re at the first stop.”
Derek followed Amanda’s Jeep down a winding drive. “I think I know this place. A friend from school lived here.” There was hope in his voice, but then it faded when they saw how overgrown everything appeared. That in itself wasn’t a good indicator as survival didn’t require perfect lawns, but a set of bleached bones in the middle of the drive was a pretty good bet nobody was there. The bones had to have been there a while to be so clean and white. It wasn’t from a human. It was too big. Maybe a horse or cow, but as they drove past, Hunter saw bones cracked in half. Either the animal had died from coyotes or wild dogs, maybe even a mountain lion, or they had fed on the remains. If people had been around, Hunter couldn’t see the animals coming so close to the house.
Amanda swerved to the right and did a U-turn, shaking her head at them as she passed by. Hunter sighed. It could be a long afternoon.
It wasn’t until the ninth house that they found anyone alive. A man and a small boy. The man came out on to his front porch with a rifle in the crook of his arm.
His father stepped out and Hunter held his breath. Why did his dad always have to be the one to take the risk? He rolled down his window so he could hear the conversation.
“… Veteran’s Park. You know where that is? Three days. At five p.m.”
“I want you off my property. Now.”
His dad backed away, arms raised. “Look, mister. I know it’s hard to trust other people and I know you might be worried about catching the virus, but feel free to wear a mask. Nobody will think twice about it. I’ll probably wear one myself. But there will be food there.”
The barrel of the rifle lowered a fraction. “Food?”
Amanda put one foot out, standing to look over the door. “Yeah. I have beef, and we’ll see what other stuff we have. If you have something to share, that would be welcome, but if you don’t feel comfortable with that, just come as our guest. The important thing is that we get to know each other. You know out here, neighbors have always depended on each other. We need each other now more than ever.”
The rifle lowered still more and the man put a hand on the child’s head. “My son hasn’t seen any other kids in a year. He said you guys were ghosts because we thought everyone was dead.”
“No. There are more survivors than you think.” His dad pointed to Derek’s truck. “That’s my son and her brother. I think we have about twenty-five people at the ranch, with both of our families combined?” He looked to Amanda for confirmation.
She nodded and said, “Plus those guys on my ranch.”
“And those two Air Force guys. So counting you two, there are at least thirty-seven of us alive right around here.” His dad’s voice softened. “And some are children. We have three with us. Two boys and a girl. They’d love to have another kid to play with.”
The young boy’s eyes opened wide as he looked at his own father then back to Hunter’s dad.
The man straightened his shoulders, the rifle inching up, but there was no threat in his voice when he said, “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay. Hope to see you there, but no matter whether you go or not, if you need anything, we’re just down the road.”
He gave a noncommittal nod. Amanda gave the man the address but he didn’t write it down.
Hunter called out to his dad. “Why don’t we split up? I feel like we’re wasting gas just followin
g you.”
“Are you armed?”
Hunter patted the butt of his handgun tucked into a shoulder holster. “Always.”
Today he wore a tank top with loose button down shirt over it. He found it was actually cooler to keep the sun off his skin than to be completely bare. The loose shirt covered the gun, but it was within easy reach.
Amanda retrieved something from the back of her Jeep and came up to Hunter’s window, throwing an uneasy glance at the man, who remained on the porch as if they intended to storm the house. She called to him that they were just getting ready to leave.
She thrust a can of red spray paint at Hunter. “Here, mark the front doors with an X if the house is empty. We can come back later and check for supplies. If you can, write the addresses down, too. We’re going to go west and you guys can take this road, go south and then take a right. We’ll go the opposite way and we’ll be covering a large loop. There will be a gas station on your left so we can meet there. Say, in about an hour?”
Derek nodded. “Yeah.”
Amanda turned to go back to her Jeep when Derek shouted, “Be careful, Amanda.”
She paused in the act of opening her door, stared at her brother for a moment, before nodding. “You too.”
Derek rolled up his window and didn’t look at Hunter. They drove south, inspected several more homes where all they found were bodies and death. They made their Xs, and if the houses didn’t already look ransacked, they added a smaller S to make it easier to determine where there might be supplies. Hunter noted the addresses for future reference.
The quiet in the truck grew awkward with only the sound of Hunter’s pen scratching on the notepad to break the silence. He picked up his story where he’d left off after finding Buddy. “My cousin, Trent, died just before I got to the island—that’s where we went to stay away from all the sick people—he would have been almost your age now. Maybe a year younger. I miss him so much. Growing up, my dad and I spent a lot of time at my cousin’s house. All the holidays, birthdays, you name it. They always had room for us. Piper’s like a sister and Trent was more of a brother than a cousin. I even lived there when my dad’s job took him away from home for months at a time.”
Derek seemed lost in thought but then said, “My dad could have been in charge, but he’s not like your dad. He just sat in the house. I’m not even sure he’d have noticed if I would have died in the beginning. He watched television hour after hour until it went off the air, and even then, he stared at the screen when it was just that white fuzzy stuff.”
“Snow?”
“Is that what it’s called? I never saw it before, but yeah. He finally started acting like he cared if we lived or died about two months ago.”
“And who took care of things before that?” Hunter knew the answer even before Derek replied, but he let the boy say it anyway.
“Amanda…”
Hunter didn’t reply and just pointed out the next house. This one looked like someone might be living there, so he told Derek to beep the horn so whoever was there would know they weren’t trying to sneak up on them.
A man ambled out from a garage, wiping his hands on a greasy rag. “Hey there!”
Hunter paused before slowly opening the passenger door. He didn’t get out, only putting one foot on the driveway. He studied the man, wondering if his friendly demeanor was real or if he was sick with the virus. He took out a mask and told Derek to put on one as well. “Hello, sir. My name is Hunter and this is Derek. We’re going house to house looking for survivors.”
“Hey, Hunter, I’m Garret.” He tucked the rag in his back pocket and tipped his head to see Derek. “How’s it going, Derek?”
The man sighed as he focused on Hunter. “Well, I can save you some trouble. I’m the only one on either side of this road for a mile each way. I checked myself a few months ago when I figured it was finally safe to leave.”
“Nobody else is here with you?”
“Nope. I’m divorced for twenty years now. I’d have been dead too, except I took a few days off to paint my living room, had my music blasting, got a little drunk and when I was done and sober, the world had ended.”
“How have you managed all alone?”
“It’s been damned hard, I’ll tell you. I felt like Robinson Crusoe or something.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I planted a shitload of vegetables out back, mostly at the wrong time, but I kept them watered and rigged up some shade to keep them from drying up. I babied those carrots and potatoes until I had a decent crop for a single person. Shot some rabbits, fished on the little creek that ran through the back of my property until it dried up last summer. It’s coming back now, and so are the fish. But, mostly, I dressed up like one of those Hazmat guys and raided every freezer and pantry in those houses. You won’t find a thing to eat in any of them.”
“So, you haven’t seen or spoken to anyone in all this time?”
“Nope. I saw a couple of guys on dirt bikes go by a few times, but by the time I got outside to flag them down, they were long gone.”
While the man was friendly and talkative, he wasn’t acting crazed as those who’d caught the virus had. More likely, he was just lonely and rambling after not talking to a living soul for nearly a year.
Hunter exchanged a glance with Derek. “You think that could be them?”
Derek shrugged. “Maybe.”
The man looked confused. “You talking to me?”
“No, sir. We know there are a couple of guys who were rumored to have been from the Air Force base riding around on dirt bikes. They seem to have been helping people out now and then, but they don’t stick around for a thank you. We just want to let them know about a meeting we’re holding three days from now. It’s to get all of us survivors together so we can help each other. Are you interested in going?”
“You bet I am.” His face lit up like Hunter had told him Christmas was coming early.
After telling him where and when, Hunter asked him to spread the word if he happened to see any other people before the meeting.
They left, doing a quick check on the other homes in case Garret was mistaken, but saw no signs of life. They made an X, but didn’t add an S to any of the doors.
At the last one, they found human remains scattered near the front door along dozens of beer cans, empty bottles of whiskey, and crumpled packs of cigarettes.
Derek stared at the scene before backing away. “This is crazy. I knew people died, but…I guess I thought Amanda exaggerated, you know? But she was right.” He spun and fled to the truck.
Hunter took a quick look around, decided any supplies from this house weren’t worth the risk and returned to the truck to find Derek, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, his body shaking as he stared straight ahead at the house of death.
Last summer seemed a lifetime ago when Hunter had been forced to come to terms with the scope of the tragedy, but it seemed as if Derek was only now realizing the depth of what had happened.
He gave Derek a few moments to process it all before he asked, “Are you okay?”
There was no reply for perhaps thirty seconds. Then as if something had broken loose, Derek, eyes watering, his nose running, sobbed about his mother’s death, his friends gone forever, his high school graduation, college, all of the things he’d planned in the next few years. “Everyone is gone—why do we even bother? Why? What’s the point?” He pounded on the steering wheel before wrapping his arms around it and burying his head in them.
Hunter sat motionless. What could he say to this boy he barely knew? What should he say? The radio beeped and his dad asked them where they were and if everything was okay. “Ah, yeah, Dad. We’re fine. Just give us a few more minutes, okay?”
Derek came up for air, looking for something to wipe his nose with, finally fishing a napkin from the crevice between the seat and the console. It was probably leftover from some fast food run a year ago. When he finished, he looked drained; his eyes red-rimmed, still sniffing. �
��I’m sorry, man. I’m such a wuss.”
Hunter shook his head. “No, you’re not. You’re a survivor, same as me. And like my dad. You think we haven’t had our own moments when we ranted and raved about the fairness?”
Derek looked at him askance. “Yeah, right.”
“For me, it came after finally reaching the island and finding out Trent had died. All that I had gone through to get there seemed pointless. I was so happy to see my family, but then Trent was dead and, like you, I wondered why he died and not me and what was the point of going on? Everyone else was dead so we might as well be too. And my dad, he blamed himself for Trent’s death.”
Derek’s head was bowed as he picked at the leather cover on the steering wheel. “So how did you get through it?”
Hunter thought back. He’d had Sophie to help him, and she’d had her own demons to work through that he tried to help her deal with. His dad had had Elly, and even Sean had been there after Steve’s death. “I talked it out with those closest to me. I think my dad did too.”
He let that sink in then added, “From what I can tell, Amanda would do whatever she could to help you. And you have your twin. He might not be where you are yet, though, if he hasn’t seen any of this for himself. When he does, he’ll need you there to help him.”
“Yeah. Maybe. But…still, the world sucks now. I want it to be like it was.”
“Yeah. I know. I think we all wish that, but what comes next in this world is whatever we want it to be.”
Derek nodded and straightened his shoulders. “Tell them we’re on our way.”
28
Over the next two days, the group canvassed the area and on the morning of the meeting, Cole looked over the list of survivors they’d spoken to. It was a very short list. Not including their groups, there were only twenty-seven other survivors. Only four of them were under the age of twelve. Five were teens, and the others were adults of all ages.
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 78