Carl nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Then he turned to Harold. “That also goes for you. I may be going in there, but not without somebody to watch me from afar. I want three snipers at three different locations. If things get ugly, the snipers will lay down suppressing fire so we can beat it back to the woods.”
“What about firearms?” Lorenzo asked. “Aren’t you going in armed?”
“We will, but not with our rifles. We don’t want our guns to be the first things they see when we walk in there,” Carl said. “I think it also would be a good idea to leave our packs behind too. They might think we’re carting explosives with us, or possibly take what we have. We’ll just pack firearms with us.”
“I could go with you!” Shyanne suddenly piped up. “If you have a little girl with you, they won’t think you’re bad.”
A few of the surrounding men chuckled. Carl couldn’t help but smile. “That’s actually not a bad idea, but we don’t know who these people are. If they’re bad guys, they won’t think twice about hurting a little girl, even the most adorable ones.”
Shyanne shrank back but didn’t appear hurt by Carl’s rejection.
Carl turned and panned around to look at everyone gathered there. “If I’m right, if this place is everything we hoped, it’s going to fine for little girls, and for everyone here.”
Carl, Tara and Sheriff Arnold began walking out of the forest onto the dirt road that wound into East Creek’s boundaries. It was shortly after noon. They kept an eye on the environment ahead. There were very few trees, and none of them were thick enough to hide a sniper. The tallest trees and thickest cover were behind them. Carl knew Harold, Lorenzo, and one of Adam’s Point’s men had weapons poised on the town.
Please, don’t make us have to fire on you, Carl thought. He wanted them finally to hit paydirt. Let this journey finally come to an end. Let us find some place that we can call home.
The dirt road curved onto a paved road, where they turned left. The first real sign that they had entered East Creek was the fishing supplies store to their left and the convenience store on their right. A diner, a movie theater and a gas station lay farther ahead.
I hope we don’t have to go too much farther before making contact, Carl thought. Our snipers will lose track of us.
Carl was especially nervous of the old movie theater up ahead. It wouldn’t be hard for snipers in this town to target them from that location.
“Carl, this place is pretty quiet,” Tara said.
“I know.” Carl tried to think of a solution. How do they get the attention of the people here?
Then, he thought of something. “Raise your hands up over your head,” he said as he matched his actions to his words.
“Why?” Tara asked.
“It’ll let them know that we’re not carrying any weapons. Good idea.” Sheriff Arnold raised his hands. Tara did likewise.
“Now, just walk very slowly,” Carl said.
The trio marched down the street but did not cover much ground. Carl did not want to go any farther than the movie theater. Carl’s snipers might decide to follow them while staying under cover, which could be risky if they were spotted. Three men with guns? It would look like an invasion.
Finally, Carl decided he had to try something. “Hello!” he cried.
“Carl!” Tara whispered.
But Carl did not answer her. “We come peacefully! Look at us! We can’t harm you!”
The three of them froze in place. Carl didn’t doubt that each of them feared a gunshot ringing out at any moment.
Just as Carl was about to call out again, he heard a door snap open just behind them. They had passed the fishing store during their trek into town. Now the front door was open, and a young man approached from the opening.
“Stop right there. Keep your hands up. You don’t make a move unless I say so.” The man approached with his gun. “Any of you do anything funny, I won’t hesitate to pull this trigger.”
At least I got their attention, Carl thought.
Chapter Fourteen
Carl, Tara and Sheriff Arnold waited in place as the young man encircled them. He stopped in front of Arnold. The sheriff was wearing his badge on his belt. “You’re a policeman?” he asked.
“Sure am. Sheriff Arnold of the Adam’s Point Police Department,” Arnold answered.
“Adam’s Point?” The young man frowned. “That’s up north, isn’t it?”
“It is, and we’ve got a lot of refugees from up there,” Arnold said. “We’re looking for a place to stay.”
The man turned back to the fishing store. “Mister Noah! Mister Noah!”
“It’s alright, I’m coming.” A tall man with sandy hair and a moustache marched out into the open, flanked by four men, all brandishing rifles.
“This bunch doesn’t look dangerous.” He then glared at Carl. “But I do find it interesting that you don’t have any backpacks on you. Cars don’t work anymore, so I can’t imagine you just popped out of a four-door on the way from Adam’s Point.”
“Believe me, I’d like nothing better than a nice car ride, but the truth is we did hike all the way here from Adam’s Point,” Carl said. “We left our packs at camp so we wouldn’t look like a threat. There’s more of us waiting out in the woods. We wanted to make contact with you first.”
“Smart thinking.” The man smiled, but only briefly.
He clearly didn’t want to crack his façade too soon. Carl took careful note of the men’s appearances. They seemed fairly normal by everyday standards, dressed in jeans and work shirts. One of them, a burly man with dark skin, was sporting a cowboy hat. Their rifles didn’t appear military grade. These must be everyday civilians who saw the world fall apart around them and did their best to deal with it.
“How about we start with introductions?” the sandy-haired man asked. “Who are you?”
“Carl Mathers, former U.S. Marine. This is Tara and you’ve already met Sheriff Arnold.”
“A Marine.” The man nodded. “Alright, put your hands down but keep them where we can see them. We’re doing this one step at a time. My name is Noah Argyle, but just Noah will be fine. I’m one of East Creek’s community council. Once I know I can trust you, I’ll introduce you to the rest. Now, you said you’re from Adam’s Point.”
“Most of us are. I actually grew up near Adam’s Point on a farm. I was actually hoping to find a haven in Adam’s Point but the town burned to the ground. We’ve got about eighty people out there. I know that sounds like a lot, and we don’t want to overburden you. But if there’s any way we can settle down here, then we’ll do all we can to pull our weight. We’re not going to sponge off anyone.”
“We got a lot of strong hands,” Sheriff Arnold said. “You need us to help grow your crops, work your wells, build your homes, you name it, we can do it.”
“Believe me, that sounds tempting,” Noah said. “But first, I’d like to meet your people outside the community. Like I said, we’re doing this one step at a time.”
“I know you screen for diseases. Nobody’s ill but we do have people who have suffered from smoke inhalation, plus we have some elderly with us,” Carl said.
“You met Jed, huh?” Noah chuckled.
“I promise we didn’t get near him,” Carl said. “None of our people came into contact with him.”
Noah turned to the young man. “Cliff,” he said, “head on back to HQ. I’ll take Cal and Byron and see if our new friends are on the up and up.”
Carl tensed up. These next few minutes would be the difference maker. He and his friends might finally have a home, or they could be cast back out into the wilderness.
As Carl, Tara and Sheriff Arnold marched out of town with Noah and his men behind them, Carl raised his hand over the back of his head and scratched his neck. “Damn mosquitoes,” he mumbled.
But in reality, he hadn’t been bitten by a mosquito. In fact, his neck wasn’t itching at all. His utterance wasn’t for Noah’s benefit.
In reality, his gesture was a signal to tell his snipers to retreat and that there was no immediate danger. Carl didn’t want Noah and his men to see anyone nearby with rifles in their hands. Harold and the others would instead withdraw to camp. Noah and his crew would not be the wiser.
Carl escorted Noah, Cal and Byron through the forest to camp. Carl studied the expressions of the three men as soon as they laid eyes on the Adam’s Point survivors. He wanted to know if they were genuinely surprised, and possibly if they registered sympathy for the refugees’ plight. It might tell whether these people will have shelter soon.
Noah met up with the Adam’s Point council members, who told their story of what happened to their town. Noah listened and asked few questions. Soon the subject came up about Carl’s place in all of this. Carl explained his side of the story, with help from Tara, Preston, Michael, Alicia, Lorenzo and Harold.
“That is the craziest shit I ever heard,” said Cal, the man with the cowboy hat. A lot of the surrounding crowd laughed. Even Carl had to admit his exploits sounded off the wall.
Finally, Noah had to sit down on a nearby fallen log. “Well, I got to say this is one hell of a story.” He wiped fresh sweat from his face. “You sound like you’re a bunch of good people, Carl. I think we can accept you, but we are going to want to check you out. We have a few doctors in town. They’ll want to ask you a few questions. Can you give us until tomorrow to start welcoming you? Besides, we need to get the full support of the council. We just don’t want any surprises.”
“I know what you mean,” Carl said.
Matthew, with a cloth mask fitted to his face, slid the box across the dirt road. “That’s okay,” Jed said with a smile, “I’ll take care of it.” The man rose from his seat by the tent. Matthew backed into the woods as Jed approached the box. The parcel wasn’t very big, just a small cardboard box that Jed easily could pick up in one hand.
“The flu medicine won’t expire for another year, so it should work for you,” Matt said.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Jed exhaled loudly. “Still feeling a little warm and unsteady on my feet but I’d rather feel like I do now than how I was this past week.” He flipped open the box’s lid. “Ah!” He pulled out the small bottle of flu medicine. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Matt said.
“I heard East Creek is going to let you in. Congratulations. I’m sure you’re all relieved.”
“They’ll start later today,” Matt said. “They want to screen each of us before they let us in.”
“Yeah. If you don’t pass, you end up like me.” Jed chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll be enjoying a nice roof over your head soon enough.”
“Oh! I almost forgot! My brother found some fresh firewood for you, too. I’ll go get it!”
Matt was not far from the main camp when an odd trickling noise drew his attention to the left. The boy soon found the back of a man. It was Chip, and he was urinating. His cheeks burning, Matt retreated back into the woods.
Chip soon finished and zipped up his fly. Matt tried to slip away, but Chip rapidly caught up with him. “Oh. Hello.” The man cleared his throat. “I uh, I saw you go by earlier with a box.”
“Yeah.” Matt turned around. “We had flu medicine with us. We gave it to Jed, to help him out. I was going to get him some firewood.”
Chip turned his head in the direction from which Matt had come. “They don’t let you in if you’re sick, huh?”
“Yeah. But they also want us to obey their rules. Dad said that East Creek’s new council set up a bunch of rules. It’s to keep everyone safe and that everyone can have enough to eat and drink. We got to know those rules before they let us in.”
Chip leaned against a thin tree. “So, if we don’t play ball, we end up out here with Jed?”
Matt shrugged. “I guess so. But we’ll do what they say. I’m sure.”
“Got to follow the rules.” Chip paced to the tree closest to Matt. “That’s the way it always is. My stepdaddy was like that. He’d love to be with you all if he was still around. All this, it fit him. Say, what is your brother up to?”
Matt stepped back, widening the distance between him and Chip. “He’s back at camp with Dad. He cut the wood for Jed, so he’s taking a break.”
“Really? Guess you can’t work boys too hard, can you? You looking forward to normal life? When they let you in, you’re not going to be shooting people any more, are you?”
Matt backed up a step, widening the distance between him and Chip. “I-I didn’t want to. I had to help my Dad and save Tara, Shyanne…”
“Yeah, you had to do a good thing. But doesn’t that make you feel bad?”
“A little.” Matt backed up a little bit more. “Sometimes. Sometimes I’m afraid to go to sleep.”
“Why’s that? You dream? You see the man you shot?”
Matt backed up again, but this time he hit the trunk of a tree. “It was raining. I couldn’t see his face.”
Chip sucked in his bottom lip. “Good for you, then. Your brother. He shot a man?”
“He did. He shot him in the leg. But we never found his body.”
“So, you don’t know if he was killed too?”
Matt shook his head. “No. We know he hurt the man…Ben, that was who he was. But we couldn’t find him again. He probably ran away.”
“You think your brother feels guilty about shooting him?”
“No.” Matt frowned. “And he shouldn’t. Ben tried to kill my dad and Mister Carl. Miss Tara, Mister Michael, Shyanne, them too. He was a monster. He got what he had coming to him.”
Chip stared at Matt for a brief moment. “Guess he had to be to make boys like you shoot grown men. You probably hate him, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to think about him,” Matt replied as he turned back to camp. “I need to go. I need to tell my dad that I gave Mister Jed the medicine.”
“You do that,” Chip said. “I’m going to go…” He pointed off to the east. “…get ready for the screening. I want to take a bath as soon as I can.”
Matt picked up the pace as soon as he was sure Chip was out of sight. His brother had been visibly uncomfortable around Chip, and Matt had to admit he wasn’t too fond of Chip either. Why? He wasn’t sure. Chip just had a weird way of looking at them. He seemed like a timid individual, but there was something else boiling under the surface. Thomas seemed to know it. But what was it?
About twenty minutes later, Matt was trekking back toward the dirt road with a handful of small logs. He wanted to hurry, but he held back so he would not trip. Apparently, the first round of screenings was due to begin soon, and his dad wanted him to line up with the initial group of survivors who the East Creek crew would examine.
He was so excited that he wanted to tell Jed all about it. It would help encourage the man and perhaps assist him in recovering.
At last, Matt pushed past the last round of shrubbery. The dirt road was in sight, and soon Jed’s tent was as well.
However, as Matt stepped foot onto the road, he suddenly froze and dropped the logs onto the ground.
Carl, reclining against the thick tree trunk with Tara, Michael and Preston, listened as Noah went over the last of East Creek’s rules. Twenty of the Adam’s Point survivors, including families and the elderly, stood and took in Noah’s words.
“We don’t disarm,” Noah said as he walked along the group of twenty. “A man’s firearm is his sacred right. If you were prisoners, well, it’d be a different story. But if you want to be free citizens, then you need your guns, not just for hunting, but for your own protection, and of course, the protection of the town. We recognized early on that we would be on our own, so we built up our own defense force.” Noah turned to Cal, Byron, and a stout woman with a sidearm in her belt. “The more we can add to our numbers the better.”
Noah then approached the woman next to Cal and Byron. “This is Doctor Elizabeth Wales. She’s going to check out each of you. Don’t worry, it won’t take
long. We want to spot the obvious diseases. Even if one of you does have something, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re put out here until you get better. If it’s something like the common cold, we can put you up in a house until you recover. Without our electronics, we need to be cautious like this.”
“Do you have any way to examine lung problems?” Tara asked. “Carl, Preston and Michael all have all suffered from smoke inhalation. Carl and Preston have had some nasty phlegm episodes.”
Wales turned to Tara. “Ordinarily, we’d perform a bronchoscopy to check for lung damage, but we have no electricity to work a camera. We do have some inhalers on hand, so we can supply you with some oxygen that way.”
“Look, don’t worry about me. Check out everyone else first,” Carl said.
Doctor Wales walked up to a small folding table that Noah and his men had brought. It held a number of medical implements, including tongue depressors, swabs, a stethoscope, and a couple of otoscopes. “I’m ready.”
“Alright folks, let’s get started,” Carl said.
The first of the twenty survivors, a lanky man with a long face and growing stubble, walking up to Wales. “Alright.” She held up a depressor. “Let’s open up and see what you got in there.”
The man opened his mouth. A scream then rang out. But it didn’t belong to the man.
Carl and almost everyone turned their heads. Matt just had arrived. The boy was standing in between two trees just off to the side. His chest rose and fell with repeated quick breaths.
“Matt?” Carl dashed up to him. “What’s wrong?”
Silent Interruption (Book 4): Of Tragedy and Triumph Page 11