365 Days Alone

by Nancy Isaak

  “So, what do you want?” growled Alice.

  “Don’t want anything,” smiled Cammie. “But definitely wondering what you want?”

  Shelton rode up beside Alice. She gave Cammie a diplomatic nod. “We’ve got visas. So we got a right to be on this road.”

  For the first time, Cammie’s smile faltered. She looked confused. “Pardon?”

  Alice shushed Shelton, then turned back to Cammie. “We don’t mean anybody any harm.” She quickly tucked her gun back into its holster and then held up her hands to show they were empty. “We’re just here to go to the library—to get books.”

  Cammie nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

  “A lot of people want books these days,” she said, jumping off of the car and motioning us to follow her. “Well, come on.”

  * * * *

  Besides Cammie, there were three other girls who lived in the Westlake Village Library. Two of them were a pair of 12-year old sisters from nearby Lindero Canyon Road, while the fourth was a 17-year old from the city of Calabasas.

  They were all very proud—and certainly deserved to be—of how they’d been taking care of the Library and its thousands of books.

  “I found Julie and Wenna living in a house down the road. Melina was already here when I arrived,” Cammie told us. “We were only going to stay in the library a month maybe, then move on once we figured out how to survive. But people kept coming for books and we just started taking care of things. I guess you could say that we’re the librarians here now.”

  “But how do you eat?” asked Cherry. “If you’re in the library most of the time, how do you get your food?”

  “There are other girls around here. Not a lot, but some. They bring us food in exchange for taking care of the books. Plus, there’s still a lot of food over at Target.”

  “So, you’re under the Westlake Village girls’ jurisdiction?” I asked.

  The look Cammie gave me was one of complete confusion. “You’re in Westlake Village now.”

  “I know. What I meant was…”

  But—before I could continue—Alice butted in. “We need medical texts. Those are the most important books right now. And the ones on farming.”

  Cammie looked over at the three other ‘librarians’; they were presently going over the lists we’d given to them. “Melina,” she asked. “What’s the damage?”

  The other girl held up a tally sheet. “Approximate total of three thousand books.”

  “You got how many girls in your group?” asked Cammie—all business now. “Not the ones here, but total.”

  “Sixty-six,” said Alice. “No, sorry. It’s sixty-five now.”

  Cammie whistled. “That’s—let me see—just under fifty books per girl. Tell you what…we’ll let you take ten books per girl plus five each on medicine and agriculture.”

  Alice looked shocked. “We need more than that!” she insisted.

  “Well, like I said, there are other girls around here who need books, too. You can borrow what we give you. When you return those, you can take out more.”

  “Are you serious?” asked Alice, incredulously.

  “As a heart attack.” Cammie walked behind the front counter, as if she was a clerk about to check out books. “This is a library, Ma’am. We lend books. We don’t give them away.”

  Meanwhile, Shelton came up to stand beside Alice, her hand resting on the gun in her holster.

  The rest of us girls crowded in behind.

  “You do realize that there’s more of us than you,” said Alice, ominously. “So what if we just decide to take what we need?”

  Cammie immediately rang a bell on the top of the counter.

  Ding!

  From all around, girls of different ages came out from behind the book stacks. There were about ten in total and they were all holding guns and rifles that they aimed in our direction.

  “Now,” said Cammie, sweetly, “we are more than happy to be neighborly and share. But…we’re also not totally unprepared for any Greedy-Gusses who might happen along. So, I have to ask—are you a bunch of Greedy-Gusses?”

  Alice didn’t answer; she was fuming.

  Beside her, Shelton’s hand continued to hover over her gun.

  As far as I was concerned—this was getting stupid!

  I took a step forward, positioning myself in front of Alice and Shelton.

  “Cammie—without a doubt—I think what you’re doing is an amazing thing here. We all do,” I said, motioning toward the girls behind me.

  Most of them nodded, which made Cammie smile.

  “Now, my best friend, Jay…she’s in charge of our Medical Center. We just lost a close friend, because Jay didn’t know enough medicine. So anything you could give us to help her out would be really, really appreciated. She especially wanted to find a “Merd Manual” and a book with good pictures on anatomy.”

  Cammie burst into laughter. “I think your friend most probably is looking for a “Merck Manual”. ‘Merde’ is something entirely different in French, of course.”

  A few of the girls obviously knew French; they started giggling.

  I must have blushed, because Cammie put her hand around my shoulder. “No worries, mate. We have your “Merck”—which is a great choice for medical information, if I do say so myself.”

  Then—to Alice—she said, “Another librarian will help you, ma’am. I’m presently busy with this customer.”

  And she led me away, down among the stacks.

  I looked back to see Alice staring after us; she did not seem at all happy.

  * * * *

  Cammie handed me a large black book. “It’s our last “Merck Manual”. We had two others, but they’re presently out.”

  “Thanks. How many girls are borrowing books out of this library?” I asked.

  “We had thirteen through here in the last week alone,” she said proudly.

  “Our library burned down.”

  The redhead nodded. “We saw the fire a couple of weeks back. By the time we got there, your library was already gone. Melina and I brought back the books that were left in the Book Returns. Other than that, everything was burned up.”

  “We thought maybe the Probationary Camp girls took the books.”

  “The what?”

  “The girls from the camp for juvenile delinquents over near Malibu Creek. They’ve taken over the area from Mulholland Highway all the way up to Kanan Road and they’re shooting anyone who tries to head down to Malibu and the beach.”

  Once again, Cammie looked confused. “What juvie camp?”

  “Well, I’m not really sure exactly where it is, but Orla—she’s the one in charge of our community—she said that it was near Malibu Creek State Park.”

  Cammie shook her head. “There are no girls’ juvie camps there. As far as I know, there are no girls’ juvie camps anywhere in these hills.”

  “But there’s that Probationary camp down near Encinal Canyon Road, just off of Kanan. I’ve driven by there with my mom.”

  “That’s a boys’ camp.”

  Now I was confused. “Maybe Orla got the camps mixed up.”

  “Or maybe this Orla is simply lying to you,” suggested Cammie.

  “Why would she lie about something like that?” I asked.

  Cammie didn’t have a chance to answer, because Alice suddenly came stalking down the row toward us. “Kaylee!” she yelled at me. “Did you get that medical book or not?”

  “Got it.” I held up the “Merck Manual”.

  “Go help Rude, then,” she ordered. “She’s useless.”

  I turned back to Cammie. “Thanks again.”

  Then I walked past Alice, stopping just long enough to put a finger in her face. “And her name is Jude—not Rude,” I corrected. “You don’t see us calling you ‘Brady Bob’. So, stop being such a dick, Alice!”

  * * * *

  “You know, I was being completely serious,” I said to Cammie, about an hour later, as she helped me load s
ome books into my shopping cart. “I think what you guys are doing here in the library is just amazing.”

  “Thanks,” Cammie grinned, proud. “I like to think that there are other girls out there doing the same thing, you know—in other libraries, museums. Somebody has to protect the ‘culture’ for when civilization returns. Otherwise we’re just barbarians, right?”

  I nodded. “Do you have any idea what might have happened? Does anybody you’ve talked to?”

  She shook her head. “Everyone’s got a theory. Nobody knows nothing, though.”

  “And I don’t suppose any of the girls you’ve talked to have seen any boys anywhere?”

  “I wish,” Cammie sighed.

  “What about the beasts? Have you seen any down here, yet?”

  “You mean, like the mountain lions? We saw a couple of them running along the 101 the other day.”

  Before I could respond, Melina came out and handed Cammie two books. She tucked those into my cart, too.

  “Are those Amanda Hocking’s?” I asked, delighted. “I thought you were all out.”

  “Melina managed to find a couple in the back room. They’re from her “Watersong” series.”

  “Thanks, Melina!” I was so excited about the books that I completely forgot that Cammie didn’t really answer my question about the beasts.

  * * * *

  Our shopping carts were loaded and we were ready to start our trip back to Agoura Hills. Although we hadn’t gotten everything on our lists, we certainly had enough to make our return trip long and arduous.

  Pushing those heavy carts was not going to be easy.

  “You guys are over at Agoura High, right?” said Cammie. “Maybe I’ll come and visit.”

  “That’d be great,” I told her. “You could meet my friends, Jay and Lily. Just make sure that you get a visa first. Our Protection Detail is kind of ridiculous about that.”

  “What is that about anyways?” asked Cammie. “The visas?”

  “You don’t know? You need a visa to travel through the communities in the Conejo Valley now.”

  “Who says?”

  “The different Councils. We had to get one from Westlake Village just to travel here. Otherwise we might have been shot.”

  Cammie gave me the look that dogs give—the one where their heads tilt a little to one side, like they’re trying to figure out what you’re going on about.

  “You guys were waiting for us,” I said. “With guns…you knew we were coming, right?”

  “Because we heard you pushing those carts down Agoura Road.”

  “So—your Council didn’t send you out to meet us?”

  Alice was walking by; as she did, she stopped to look in my cart. “You guys good?”

  “Like pepper on a Pop-Tart,” said Cammie.

  “Whatever that means,” grunted Alice. Then she walked off to check on the rest of our girls.

  Meanwhile, Cammie leaned in close, keeping her voice low. “Kaylee…I think you’re being sold a bill of goods.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s no Westlake Village Council…I don’t think there are any Councils.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Abso-positively. We’ve got girls coming from all the cities around here—Moorpark, Thousand Oaks…some are even coming up from the beaches. Not a single one has ever mentioned any Council or visas, nothing like that.”

  “But if there’s no Westlake Village Council, then who did Orla get the visa from?” I wondered.

  “A better question would be,” Cammie said, “if this Orla is wrong about the girls’ juvie camp—is it possible she’s wrong about the visas, too?”

  “We saw the visa, though. She gave it to Alice.”

  “Did you actually read it? I mean, what was on the paper?”

  “Well, no.”

  Cammie shrugged. “So, you don’t really even know what it said.”

  A short distance away, Alice got on Beauty; Shelton was already sitting on the chestnut. “All right, ladies,” yelled Alice. “Let’s get these books home!”

  I turned back to Cammie. She reached out and pulled me in for a hug, at the same time, whispering in my ear. “You’ve got a place here, Kaylee…for you and your friends…just in case.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered back. “And I’m gonna’ think about what you said…I promise.”

  “Kaylee, let’s go!” It was Alice, trotting over toward me. “You’re holding up the line!”

  I quickly grabbed my cart and started pushing.

  * * * *

  As we headed down Agoura Road, I maneuvered my cart until I was walking between Cherry and Jude. Like the rest of us, they were both exhausted. Between the lack of sleep and the weight of the heavy carts, we were all moving very slowly, our footsteps heavy and cumbersome.

  “Man, this blows!” groaned Jude.

  “Alice and Shelton seem to be doing okay,” Cherry noted. “Must be nice to ride horses all day long.”

  “Get this.” I leaned in close, whispering. “There are no girls’ juvies in Malibu Canyon. Cammie told me that there aren’t any girls’ Probationary Camps anywhere in these mountains around here—not that she knows.”

  I was expecting Cherry and Jude to be surprised by the news.

  They weren’t.

  Instead, they simply looked at each other and nodded.

  Cherry motioned me closer. “Jude and I had our own little talk with Melina. She doesn’t think that there are any beasts, either.”

  “What?!” I said, a little too loudly.

  They both shushed me. “Keep your voice down!”

  “No beasts?” I whispered. “What are you talking about?!”

  “Melina says that there are girls coming through the library all the time. Some of them are coming up Kanan-Dume Road from Malibu,” Cherry said, quietly.

  “Kanan’s open all the way to the beach?!”

  “As of a couple of days ago, it was.”

  “There’s no beasts?” I repeated. “Like none at all?”

  Cherry shook her head. “Melina doesn’t think there is.”

  “But I don’t get it. Why would Orla lie to us?”

  “Why does Orla ever lie?” said Jude. “Like I told you before. It’s how she controls us.”

  “If we think we’re surrounded,” explained Cherry, “that there are beasts and gangs of violent girls out there…then no one’s going to leave the community, are they?”

  “Oh my god,” I gasped. “I wonder if that’s what Peyton meant.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Cherry. “What did Peyton say to you?”

  “That we should all get out…while we still could.”

  * * * *

  “But are we one hundred percent certain that Orla’s been lying to us?” I asked, a little while later.

  Cherry shook her head. “Not one hundred percent.”

  “Then—however slight—there’s still a possibility that she might be telling us the truth.”

  “There’s also a possibility that there’s really a monster in Loch Ness,” said Jude. “I personally don’t believe it, though. Just like I don’t believe there’s a monster here either.”

  My mind was reeling. “What should we do, then…stay or leave?”

  “I say we play it cool for the moment,” said Cherry. “At least, until we’re a hundred percent certain. Then, if Orla is lying, we get out of here.”

  “Should we tell the other girls?” I asked.

  “They’re so far up Orla’s butt,” groused Cherry, “that I doubt they’d believe anything we said—especially now that they’ve seen all the graffiti and vandalism.”

  “Convenient proof,” said Jude. “I’ll bet the Foxes had the Protection Detail do it themselves.”

  “But that would mean that they burned down the Agoura Hills Library!” I was horrified by the thought.

  “Wouldn’t be surprised.” Jude snorted.

  “It would definitely serve O
rla’s purpose,” mused Cherry. “The worse things are outside our Community’s borders, the more we’ll want to remain inside of them.”

  I sighed. “Well, if worse comes to worst, Cammie said we’d be welcome to live at their library.”

  “Books and reading,” frowned Jude. “Figures.”

  “Or we could always go to Malibu,” I suggested. “My dad lives on Point Dume.”

  “In one of the mansions?” Cherry’s eyes twinkled with sudden interest. “Seriously?!”

  “In a house,” I corrected. “But it’ll still be big enough for all of us.”

  “Nice.”

  * * * *

  There was nothing nice about Cherry’s reaction, however, when she found out about Shawnee.

  JOURNAL ENTRY #25

  It was so scary when we got back to the school.

  All the girls from the Protection Detail were lined up in front of Orla and Tray. At first, we thought it was to welcome us back. Then we realized that no one was smiling.

  Except for Tray.

  When I realized that—that’s when I got scared.

  Because if Tray was smiling—then something had definitely gone wrong.

  There were other girls (not from the Protection Detail), who were milling about on the other side of the street. They seemed to be watching, waiting.

  Even Alice and Shelton looked confused as we pushed our carts over to where Orla was standing.

  “Did you have a good trip?” Orla asked, once we had all stopped.

  “It was good,” said Alice. “But there were some…complications.”

  “Really?”

  “We should talk later…in private.”

  Orla nodded. Then she smiled at the rest of us who were just standing there, waiting. “You look like you’re all very tired, ladies. Sophia Rojas has sodas and cake at the cafeteria for those who want it. Thank you so very much for making this trip for the community.”