Amanda’s stiff posture eased slightly, but her mouth was still set in a firm line before she said, “Well, that’s not how others see it. I sometimes wish we could blow up the damn…dam.” For one brief moment, her expression softened as she seemed to fight a smile at her word choice.
“Listen, I get that having strangers flood the area has to be frustrating, but if you have electricity, it would be in everyone’s best interest to keep it running and to get basic services back in place.”
Her arms tightened, her lips compressing again. “It would be great if the people coming to use the electricity wanted to share it with us, but all there’s been is fighting. We tried to stay out of it and just take care of our livestock and farm.”
“Do you have anything up and running? Water? Fuel? What about a hospital?”
Her eyes slid away and she shrugged. “We don’t have anyone to work at the hospital. They mostly died right away, I guess. Got a veterinarian though.”
“So, let me get this straight—you don’t have enough people to staff even a clinic, but you’re chasing people from the area? Where’s the logic in that?”
She blinked. “Um…well…we don’t need or want anyone else to come around here, spreading the virus and who knows what all.”
Ah, so that was it. Her group was understandably worried about getting sick. “I get it. We isolated our group since the virus hit and all winter long. We haven’t seen anyone with it since last summer. But, if you’re so worried about it, why are you here talking to me without any protection at all?”
She bit her lip. “I’m not supposed to …but…”
“But…what?”
After a long moment when she remained silent, Cole said, “If it makes you feel any better, I was an epidemiologist and another person in our party was as well. Diseases and transmission of them was our thing. We think, at least for now, the virus has gone dormant.”
He didn’t mention that he might carry the cure right in his own veins. Electricity meant computers would work. He and Elly had access to whatever was stored on hard drives. He was certain with their science backgrounds they try to come up with some kind of treatment. He’d loved microbiology and had taken more hard science classes than his degree had required.
But that was a goal down the road. Right now, he’d settle for a working hospital so Sophie and Elly, and their babies would be able to get care. With any luck, he might find some childhood vaccines still in a working fridge somewhere.
It was as if his words lifted a weight from her shoulders as she blew out a deep breath, visibly relaxing. “I want to believe you. Really, I do. But the last time we trusted some newcomers, we lost our farm to them. Now, we’re trying to start over on a new farm, but irrigation there isn’t as good. And we lost most of our livestock.”
He didn’t know who ‘them’ was but he could guess. He also had no answers for her, just a gut instinct that if they knew each other, they could help each other. “Listen, my name is Cole Evans. Most of the people in the cars behind me are family. My son, his wife, my brother, and his family. Plus a few folks we met along the way. Every single newcomer has been a valuable addition to our group. I don’t know if we could have survived without them.”
It was the truth. Even the children had supplied much needed joy and laughter. It would have been a long winter without them to light up the house.
Scuffing a booted toe along the dusty pavement, she squinted at him, the lights from his car becoming brighter in the deepening dusk. “I’m Amanda Glenn. The people in the cars behind me are my family, too.”
She didn’t elaborate and Cole didn’t push. “Nice to meet you, Amanda.”
He surveyed the cars behind her. It was impossible to tell how many of her family members filled them. She looked beyond him at the vehicles facing her as well. Cole took a small step forward and offered, “So, here’s what I propose…you and your family let us out of here and we go on the way we were.”
“See, here’s the thing, Cole, like I’ve said, we’ve heard this spiel before, or one like it. We won’t fall for it again.” She bit her lip then she cocked her head. “I hear Flagstaff is doing okay. Maybe y’all could go there?”
Cole stared at her. Maybe his gut instinct was wrong. “Let’s get one thing straight. Where we go is our business. I don’t need your permission nor am I seeking it. I know that we will be an asset to whatever community we decide to join.” He ticked off his group’s talents and professions. “We have a nurse, an electrician, a machinist, hunters, scientists, and more. If you don’t want us here, you’ll have to fight us.” He paused, holding her gaze. “Now, you can try fighting us, but I don’t advise it.”
Her chin lifted. “I didn’t hear soldier in any of your group’s specialties. We have a couple of guys from Nellis.”
“The Air Force Base? Well, that’s great. I’m glad some military survived.”
It wasn’t the response she expected and she looked indecisive for a second before her expression hardened again. His gaze never wavered. Her’s did.
He didn’t take her for a killer and could only hope the rest of her family was like her, but he knew if pushed, he would do what whatever it took to keep his family safe. He assumed she would respond in kind. “Now, you have two choices— you can get your cars out of the way and so we can pass, or we can fight this out. We’re prepared either way.”
She took a step back. “Ah, well, I gotta go talk to my family.”
“You do that, and while you’re talking, let them know that if we combined our groups, we would be a lot stronger than we are individually.”
She nodded and crossed the gap back to her vehicle faster than she’d approached. Cole didn’t feel good about scaring her, and in reality, knew they didn’t have nearly the fire power they probably needed. They had armed themselves for deer, not humans. The few assault weapons they had were a drop in the bucket compared to what other groups probably possessed.
Cole waited until her door shut, then turned and forcing a leisurely pace, returned to his car.
The second he shut the door, Elly’s voice came over the radio. “So, what’s going on?”
Taking a long sip of his water, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before replying, knowing his answer would be heard by everyone.
“I guess we’ll see. I think they’re just a small family group. She tried to be tough, but I think she’s scared.”
“How many are there? Can we take them?”
Cole sighed. “I didn’t ask because I’m assuming she wouldn’t have told me. However, I doubt there are more than a dozen of them judging by the size of their vehicles.”
“But you don’t know if there are more of them hiding somewhere?”
“You’re right, I don’t, Sean. I didn’t ask for numbers, just as I didn’t give any. I wanted to play up our strengths and how we could benefit any community because that’s what I want. Our goal should be to join a community so we can rebuild.”
“Do you think we’ll have to shoot them, Cole?” Travis leaned over the front seat, peering out the windshield.
Cole didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the matter of fact question. Laughter was his first inclination, but he stifled it, saddened that Travis at only eleven years old or so, already had learned the law of the wild, so to speak. Kill or be killed.
“I don’t think it’ll come to that.” He prayed it wouldn’t—especially now that he’d met Amanda. He wasn’t eager to pull the trigger on her, or anyone in her family. Of course, if he had to, he’d defend his own, but it would be senseless killing.
It seemed like hours had passed, but when he glanced at the dashboard clock, it had been only fifteen minutes since Amanda had retreated to discuss matters. Now, she emerged, arms outstretched.
“Okay, Travis, hunker down back there again.”
The boy groaned. “I could go out there and watch your back.”
“You can do that just fine from in here.” Cole drew a deep breath
and opened his door, showing his empty hands before he stepped out.
Amanda walked towards him, apparently comfortable that she wouldn’t be shot as she didn’t even glance at the other vehicles. She seemed deep in thought.
Cole only went as far as a few feet in front of his SUV. Let her come to him. He waited, his stance wide, arms crossed.
She stopped a few feet away. “Okay, so here’s the deal…we’ll let you all out…and even lead you to a good place to stay tonight if you’ll do something for us.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hunter glanced at Sophie, who bit her lip, her brow furrowed. “Are you okay, Soph?”
She grimaced, one hand on her belly. “This is embarrassing, but I really have to pee.”
“Oh, shit. I forgot. Um…okay, well you have to go, you have to go.”
“I’m not peeing my pants, Hunter.”
“No, I wasn’t saying that you should. I’ll just step out; tell them what we’re doing so nobody shoots.”
“You’re just going to announce to everyone that I have to go to the bathroom?”
Exasperated, Hunter shrugged. “You got a better idea?”
Practically panting now, her legs clenched together, she shook her head. “I guess not—but I don’t want you getting shot!”
“I won’t. They didn’t shoot my dad and look, they’re talking now. Just hang on a few more seconds.” Hunter set his gun down and opened his door, mimicking his father as he showed his hands.
“Hello? We have a little situation here.” A glint of metal in one of opposing vehicles made him freeze. ”Don’t shoot!”
His dad turned to look at him. “What the hell are you doing, Hunter?”
“Sophie’s gotta pee, Dad. Really bad.”
The woman talking to his dad smirked as his father gave his head a little shake. Hunter defended Sophie. “She’s pregnant, okay? Her bladder is about the size of an acorn these days. And right now, the baby is tap dancing on it.”
The smirk disappeared and the woman took a few steps closer, her eyes wide as a genuine smile stretched across her face. “She’s going to have a baby?”
“Yeah.” He let the smart remark about how pregnancy generally meant someone was going to have a baby die on his lips as she moved to within dozen yards.
“Okay, let me tell my group to give her a few minutes.” She turned and motioned to her group.
“Thanks!” He ducked back into the truck. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”
“Where am I going to go?”
Hunter glanced around. “Behind Sean’s truck.” He jumped out and ran around to Sophie’s side, helping her get out of the vehicle. Even just a few weeks ago when they’d started out, she hadn’t had trouble getting in and out of the raised truck, but now, Hunter felt the need to help her. Since they’d left the island, her stomach had really grown. She was so thin everywhere else, he worried about her.
She tried to wave him away. “I don’t need help.”
He took her hand anyway. “Humor me.” They retreated to behind Sean’s truck, after explaining to his uncle and aunt what was going on. His uncle chuckled and Jenna asked if Sophie was okay.
“I’m fine, Jenna. Just embarrassed.” Sophie broke from Hunter’s grasp and practically ran, or her version of running while nearly eight months pregnant. By the time Hunter got to the corner of the truck to stand guard, Sophie was sighing in relief behind him.
“You know what really sucks, Hunter? I’ll have to go again before I even pull my pants up.”
He laughed, but didn’t turn to look at her. She was sensitive about this stuff even though while traveling they’d all had to relax their privacy standards. When she was finished, she walked back to the truck, her head held high even as her cheeks turned pink.
Hunter waited until Sophie was back in the vehicle, then approached his dad and the woman. He put his hand out. “I’m Hunter.”
“Amanda. A pleasure to meet you.” She nodded, her smile appearing genuine.
Hunter glanced at his dad and raised his eyebrows in question. “So…what’s going on, Dad? We’re going to have to find a place to spend the night before long.”
“I was just telling your father that I had an idea. We have small farm a few miles from here. You could stay there tonight, if you want.”
His dad drew a deep breath. “What do you want in return?”
Hunter bit back an apology to Amanda at his dad’s hard tone, but Amanda didn’t seem to notice. She said, “I’ll be honest. We need help getting it back. But not until tomorrow. We have a different place we’re staying at now. There’s a barn the men can stay in, and the women and any kids, can stay in the guest house. There should be room.”
“Why can’t you get back in,” Hunter asked.
“A group of men came along a few days ago and forced us out. We weren’t ready—we hadn’t seen anyone out by our farm—we’re kind of hidden away, and besides the survivors we’ve seen head to Vegas—you can see the lights for miles—even more than before because a lot of neighborhoods are dark. The power’s on, but there were a lot of fires early on. And trucks took out a few transformers.”
Hunter recalled a couple of detours they had taken due to power lines across the road. It was almost certain the lines they encountered weren’t live, but he filed away that lines around here could very well be live.
Amanda shrugged. “I don’t know why they want to go there. I went once and it’s horrible. Bodies, bones, rats, roaches.” She shuddered. “I guess there are supplies if you want to wade through all that mess, but no thanks. I doubt there’s much food anyway. Tourists cleaned out most of it before they died.”
With the sun almost set, the desert was turning cool and Amanda rubbed her hands up her arms. “We tried to get around behind them, but they shot my dad.” She stopped and looked away, blinking hard. “They forced us off the farm at gunpoint. I thought you were with them until I saw your license plates. We were going to drive them away, if we could. But, the guys who stole our farm had Arizona plates.”
“What makes you think we won’t take your ranch from you once we make the other men leave.”
Shocked at his dad’s question, he opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it closed. His dad would never do something like that. He must have a reason for asking such a crazy question.
Amanda looked taken aback, retreating a step but when she glanced at Hunter’s face, she saw something on it that must have reassured her. Maybe he hadn’t hid his shock as well as he’d thought he had.
With a defiant chin jut, she said, “You can try, Cheesehead.”
Expecting a retort, Hunter was dumbfounded when his dad snorted in response, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
With a wave of her hand, Amanda dismissed Hunter’s shock. “It’s an inside joke.”
Inside joke? His dad had known this woman for all of twenty minutes. When he glanced over, his father just shrugged agreement with her.
She beamed.
Her posture elicited a slow smile from his dad. “Yes, I suppose we could try to drive you away too, but then we wouldn’t have you as an ally. I’d much rather have you and your family with us than against us.”
Hunter reached out and caught his dad’s sleeve, tugging him back several feet. “Can I talk to you a second?”
“Sure. Excuse us, Amanda.”
It was as if they were at a backyard barbecue instead of discussing life and death. “What the hell is going on, Dad? Do you two know each other somehow?”
“No, we’ve never met before, but I just have a feeling about her. She’s out here representing her family. That takes a lot of guts. I’d like to help her, but I’m not sure if we can.”
He took a few steps back to Amanda, with Hunter trailing a pace behind, digesting what his dad had said. He was right. If Amanda had the courage to stand out here facing two men, alone, she was probably someone who would be good to have as friends, not enemies.
“Here’s the thing. I wan
t to help, but…” His dad paused, staring over Amanda’s shoulder, but Hunter knew that look. He was thinking through a plan.
After a glance at him that must have shown something on his face, his dad seemed to come to a decision. “We have a couple of pregnant women. They and the kids are my first priority, but, tomorrow, I promise to consider helping. ”
Hunter nodded. “Me too.”
“You promised to help them?” Elly stood beside Cole as they waited for the other group of cars to circle around the gas station and head back down the road so they could follow.
“I promised I’d consider it. There’s a difference. I won’t do anything to jeopardize our own group, but Amanda is local. Her family is local. We need people on our side who know the area.”
“Our side? Since when did we have a side? What is our side?”
“You know what I mean. Good people. These guys who took over their farm shot her dad.”
Elly swore. “That terrible. Did he die?” She felt bad for the other group but that didn’t mean they should fight for them.
Cole blinked. “I’m not actually sure. She didn’t say. I guess I can ask her later. We can all stay with them tonight. They are on a little farm not too far from here.”
“I thought they lost the farm?” She was so confused.
“They lost their own farm, but managed to find another one, but it’s smaller and not as good.”
Sean’s door slammed shut and he sauntered over to their group. Cole had given everyone a quick rundown on the radio, but talking face to face was better.
“I’m confused, Cole. We’re following these guys back to their farm? Why would they let us do that?”
“He says they need our help and in return, we can stay there tonight.”
“Whoa. I didn’t agree to help anyone.”
“Like I said, I told them I’d consider helping. I didn’t volunteer anyone else. Just me. And then Hunter also volunteered. They have water.” Cole swept a hand out. “Water is all important out here. Granted, we can find a lake on the map, but we won’t know if other survivors are there already.”
Invasion: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Novel (Sympatico Syndrome Book 3) Page 20