Dawnland (Book 1): Pockets of the Dead

by Karen Carr

  “I don’t want you to look at it,” I said. I must have sounded a little too icy, because he looked hurt. He stood up and walked over to the kitchen, bringing back a tray with warm biscuits and an assortment of jams. He placed it between us like a barrier.

  “Breakfast,” he said. “Better eat before it gets cold.”

  We ate in silence at first; Huck seemed effected by what he saw and what I said. It took a while, but finally our conversation started and he even smiled his strange and wonderfully crooked smile. When I told him my real name was Helena, he liked that much better than Hella. I told him he could only call me that in private. He told me his real name was Finn, but that had been his father’s name too, so everyone called him Huck instead, like in Mark Twain.

  When the electric guitar playing in the green started to get a little too loud, we looked out the window. Zeke was in full-on concert mode in the band shell. He must have scared up the Reverend out of the church. The Reverend was walking in swift steps toward the green, his wife trailing him, and he did not look happy.

  “You think we should get down there?” Huck asked.

  “Yea,” I said.

  We hurried through our breakfast and went down to the green.

  March 7th

  Green, Oval Park Place

  Haverlyn Village

  When we reached the green, everyone was fighting. Reverend Mac was fighting, except not with Zeke. He was over by the garden and was arguing with Archie about something. Reverend Mac had a few stakes in his hands and was shaking them at Archie. Shelly Mac was talking to Easter wringing her hands. Easter seemed to be excited and angry about something herself, holding small packets like envelopes in her hands and showing them to Shelly Mac in a not-so-pleasant way.

  Zeke was in between the two fighting old folks yelling at them to shut up and listen to him. He had a rifle over his shoulder and looked like he was ready to shoot it. Trevan and Lily must have heard the commotion because they arrived on the green about the same time we did.

  Trevan had a gun as well, the pistol which I’m sure was loaded with bullets again. Trevan and Lily were closer to the garden, so they reached it before we did. Trevan marched right over to where their garden began and where Archie and Easter had converged and overlapped it.

  “This is crazy,” Huck said. He, too, had his rifle over his shoulder. I was afraid there would be a shootout and everyone would kill each other before we figured out how to live together.

  “We have to do something to stop it,” I said.

  “We’ll try,” he said.

  “We’ll do more than that,” I said.

  We reached Archie and the Reverend first, who were now both arguing with Trevan. Lily was over talking to Easter and Shelly Mac. It looked like their conversation was going a bit better.

  “These people are in our garden,” Trevan said to me.

  “We want to plant our own garden,” Archie said. “We have a right to do that as much as you do.”

  “Yea, but not right on top of my garden,” Trevan observed. “And we were here first.”

  “Nobody should be using the green for this,” Reverend Mac said. “And I was here first. It should remain a meeting place. Where else are we going to congregate?”

  “In the church,” Archie said. “That’s what they are for, isn't it?”

  “You are not going to interfere with my outdoor concerts,” Reverend Mac said.

  “You’ve been shut up indoors for months.” Trevan turned to Reverend Mac. “Now you’re worried about outdoor concerts? Have you noticed that there are no more musicians, except that one over there?” Trevan pointed to Zeke.

  I glanced up at the Professor’s window and thought I saw a shade move. He surely had the cameras trained on us.

  “Archie, this is Hella’s garden,” Huck said. “It’s her place; we should let her decide what to do.”

  “I was only trying to help,” Archie said. “Easter and I have seeds. They are organic, from our farm. They were in our truck. Easter, come here. Show them your seeds.”

  Easter came over followed by Lily and Shelly Mac. Before anyone could continue to speak, Zeke shot a round in the air.

  “You all are going to shut up now,” Zeke said through a microphone that he had hooked up to the stage. “Shut up and listen to me. We are all going to get along and we are all going to get to garden.”

  “I don’t want a garden here,” the Reverend addressed Zeke on the stage.

  “Well then, what do you want?” Zeke asked through the microphone.

  “I want a green.”

  “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll give you a little bit of green in front of the stage, about twenty feet back running all along, does that sound good?” Reverend Mac looked frustrated, but that didn’t stop Zeke from continuing. “Great, then Archie and Easter can plant their damn garden over there,” he pointed away from Trevan and Lily’s garden. And you guys can plant there. We can all divide up every inch of the green into equal parts. Maybe Hella, there, can pick her part here since she seems to be the unofficial mayor or whatever, but we should all get equal parts of the land, ok?”

  “No,” I said. “It is not ok. That’s not what I want to do. You have no right to tell us what to do. Lily, Trevan and I planned out the whole layout months ago. You can’t just go and change things because you have a microphone.”

  “Can’t I?” Zeke asked. “Well, why don’t you come up here and take it from me. Tell us what you want to do.” Zeke taunted me with the microphone.

  “That is exactly what I am going to do,” I said. I ran to the stage and grabbed the microphone out of Zeke’s hand.

  I proceeded to tell them how I wanted to grow corn in one corner, wheat in the other. I wanted to save for potatoes, both sweet and yellow. I wanted to build a little pen in the back for pigs and goats, and a chicken coop, which Reverend Mac made loud grumbling noises about. I wanted seasonal vegetables which we could rotate and an herb garden. I wanted to use the band shell as a shed, which made Zeke glare at me more. When I was done, Trevan and Lily clapped, but the rest regarded me with long sullen stares.

  “I want my own garden,” Easter said. “It’s not much to ask for.”

  “Plant your garden somewhere else,” Shelly Mac said to Easter.

  “There is no other place,” I said to Shelly Mac through my microphone. “The protection of the village only bounds this oval here, the street, and the apartments surrounding it. We cannot go further back, or we will not be protected from the zeroes. We have to stay in the oval. We have to have a garden here to survive.”

  “How about we vote on it?” Zeke said.

  “Zeke, it’s her place. I told you that.” Huck glared at Zeke.

  “Not anymore,” Zeke said.

  “He’s right,” I said to Zeke’s shocked expression. “You are right, Zeke, but you can’t push me around. I am not agreeing with you because you are a bully. If we are going to learn to live together we have to figure out how to compromise. I’m up for a vote.”

  The Reverend and his wife voted to leave the green alone. Zeke, Archie and Easter voted to divide up the plots. I voted for the community garden. It was up to Trevan and Lily, who were surely on my side, but they voted to divide up the plots too. Huck took my side, but it did not help. I agreed that we would split up the green in sections and leave a bit for everyone to make their own garden. I was heartbroken that they did not want to do it my way.

  Chapter 20: Snoops

  March 25th

  205 Clovemont

  Haverlyn Village

  Over the next couple of weeks everyone began to feel more comfortable with each other. Reverend and Shelly Mac formed a friendship with Archie and Easter, which worked out well for everyone in the village, because their favorite thing to do was to go fishing in Battle Creek.

  Their fishing adventures returned accounts of blown over and washed in trees on the banks of the heavily wooded creek, but thankfully no zero attacks. The children
, Maxwell, Harper and Archie’s grandson Mike, also went along and practiced climbing trees, hunting for squirrels by slingshot and swimming in the creek bed. They came home fresh and clean and with a rejuvenated outlook on life.

  Huck had decided to stay in an apartment in the same building as Zeke and Eliza. It hurt me to see him over there. It felt like I had no one by my side. Huck and I were cordial, and sometimes flirty, but we had not been alone since the shower incident. Every night, before I went to sleep, I found myself looking through the telescope to see if he was coming toward my building. Every morning, before I took my walk, I did the same thing.

  This morning was no different. When I looked through my telescope, I saw Trevan and Huck working in the garden. They had formed some kind of friendship. Lily told me they bonded over being country boys and watching them I could see they were enjoying each other’s company. By their movements, I guessed they were telling outrageous stories and joking with each other. I decided to go downstairs and interrupt their friendly morning.

  What hit me first when I walked outside was the warm air on my face and the sweet smell of spring. The Bartlett Pear trees lining the oval were covered in their pinkish-white blossoms, some drifting slowly to the ground. The Holly bushes surrounding the green, once perfectly manicured, were growing wildly in all directions. I pushed my way through the spiky Hollies to the green.

  I stood there, viewing in amazement the progress we had made on the gardens in a few short weeks. Half of the three hundred foot green had been sectioned off into four by ten foot plots. The guys had found some lumber on one of their excursions out of the village, and they had built raised beds. They had also been to Walmart a few more times and returned with all of the dirt from the store. The most amazing part was not the rich black dirt in the raised beds, but the little green seedlings bursting out of the ground everywhere.

  Trevan and Huck waved when they saw me, but didn’t stop their work. I had planted the seeds in my patch, and labeled each row by attaching the seed packet to a stick and placing it in the ground. Rows of lettuce and peas and strawberries and beans and cabbage and carrots and radishes and turnips, some with trestles prepared for their growth, some covered to protect them from the cold, and all were bursting with life.

  It was like there was magic in the air.

  Unexpectedly, Zora, Eliza and Lily rode up on bicycles and parked next to the stage. They dismounted and walked toward the guys. When Trevan saw Lily, he dropped what he was doing and went to greet her, giving her a heartfelt hug. I couldn’t help feeling left out. Why hadn’t the girls asked me to go with them on their ride? It made me miss my own friends. Stan, Saudah, my sister, my parents, I longed to be with them. Absentmindedly, I touched the charm bracelet which I still wore almost every day.

  Zora and Eliza laughed as they wrestled with a moving and squawking burlap sack. Lily said something to Trevan that I couldn’t hear. He let out an exclamation and hurriedly stepped over to the two women. There, they opened the bag and out came four scrawny chickens who immediately fluttered into the garden.

  Chickens. I had told Lily I wanted to get the chickens. We had seen them on one of our walks, hunting and pecking the ground. Then, she said, she didn’t think we could catch them. Obviously, she was wrong.

  Huck caught me staring at Lily and the chickens. By one compassionate glance, I could tell he knew I was stung. He dropped his hoe, took off his garden gloves, and came over to me.

  “There you are sunshine.” He said in a mocking tone. He brushed the hair out of my face. His touch sent a volt of energy through my body. “You want to come with us to Reverend Mac’s?”

  “The church?” I asked, startled that he would think of inviting me somewhere.

  “No, his house,” Huck said. “When they return from their fishing trip. Shelly Mac wants him to pick up some of her finest.” He smoothed out his jeans in reference to his finest.

  The Battle Creek fishing expedition was one thing, it was just on the other side of Oval Park Place and not far from protection. The Reverend’s house, he had described it to me, was almost a mile away on Clovemont. I had to go if I wanted to keep them safe, but leaving the village would mean leaving the others in danger. I wanted to go. It was about time I got to do something else besides patrol the area.

  Just then, Lily and Trevan came over with their arms wrapped around each other. “Did you see what we found?” Lily asked.

  Zora had taken a bag of feed and sprinkled it on the ground for the chickens. “You’ll have to keep them away from the garden.” I tried to smile, but my thoughts were holding my lips down.

  “Hella, what’s wrong?” Lily asked. “I thought you’d be happy.”

  “They’re our chickens.” I smirked. It sounded so stupid. It was difficult to maintain my sulky mood when I saw the chickens pecking and jumping around trying to get to the feed. They were starving.

  “We have chickens,” Huck bellowed. He grabbed me and swung me around by the waist, all-the-while whooping it up like a nut. When he put me down, he laid a big fat kiss on my lips. I pulled away, my face flushed and hot.

  “I wanted a goat.” My words sounded harsh, still tense from feeling so alone, but Huck laughed anyway.

  “I’ll get you a goat.” He planted another one on my lips.

  “Stop that.” I wiped my mouth, where he had been extra sloppy. “Why are you in such a good mood?”

  “Because we have chickens and fish.” Huck turned me around to face the field. “It’s paradise, Hella. And it’s all because of you. If you weren’t here, digging through those bodies outside the church, I never would have stopped. You saved us all, Hella.”

  Archie and Reverend Mac entered the green, followed by Easter. They were carrying several buckets, water lapping over the sides. They brought them over to where we were standing and placed them at our feet. Inside, several medium-sized fish flopped around in the shallow water.

  “Chickens,” Easter exclaimed. “I can deep fry them.”

  “They’re not for eating. They’re for eggs.” Lily stopped Easter from chasing the chickens.

  “How do you know?” Easter asked. “I don’t rightly care. What I wouldn’t give for some fresh fried chicken.”

  “Those are genuine blue eyed flounder some tasty ones too,” Archie said, referring to the fish in the bucket. “There’s lots of frogs too and we saw several wild pigs and turkeys. A hunting trip will be planned next.” He slapped Reverend Mac on the shoulder.

  “We’ll be hunting animals and those things will be hunting us,” Reverend Mac said. “Praise the Lord, they don’t catch us.”

  “The hunters and the hunted, it could work,” Archie replied. “As long as we bring enough ammo.”

  “You know Archie, here, was in the Vietnam War? I couldn’t serve because of my hearing and eyesight.” Reverend Mac lifted his glasses.

  “He’s a great shot,” said Easter, keeping her eyes on the chickens. “I reckon we ought to get some of those wild boars. I’d love to go hunting.”

  “You could bring some turkeys back here too,” I said. “We could make a cage.”

  “I have some chicken wire at the house,” Reverend Mac said. “We could go get it along with the clothes for the missus.

  “I’d like to come,” I said. Everyone stared at me and Huck shrugged his shoulders, like I shouldn’t be surprised that they were staring. It was true, I hadn’t stepped a foot out of the village since they arrived, but they didn’t know the real reason. They all must have thought I was scared. Finally we agreed that Huck, Trevan, and I would go with the Reverend and we promptly left.

  We walked along silently, Trevan and Huck paid special attention to everything around us. I just hoped there weren’t any zeroes on the road that would be lying on the ground, although I was getting tired of keeping my secret. Part of me wanted to tell them, especially Huck, but I just hadn't found the right time.

  I had forgotten that it had almost been Halloween when the apocalypse hit, but
the decorations on the houses reminded me. There were fake skeletons, rotten pumpkins, and lots of inflatables, including bats and witches that had long since lost their air. Some houses hung sheets on their porches like curtains with prophetic words, like Go Away, and No Ghosts, written in drippy red paint.

  There weren’t any bodies lying about the street or cars left haphazardly in it, which told me that the residents of Clovemont had either been hit hard or had been able to get out and drive away before becoming infected. The street, itself, was beginning to show signs of spring. Trees were blooming and budding with fragrant flowers and daffodils poked their heads up through the ground.

  This was my favorite time of year in North Carolina because of the varieties of flowers. There were bees and butterflies darting in and out of the grass, but the houses were empty and the street was quiet. I half-hoped to find more survivors here, but it didn’t seem like there were any.

  Zeke had been playing his guitar and Huck had joined with a base and vocals, singing almost every night. Their noise surely would have brought out survivors to investigate the area.

  I had walked down Clovemont many times before, marveling at the big homes and the expensive cars. The houses were all modern, built by the same builder in this planned community, but resembled old Victorians. After school, the sidewalks were always filled with children running to and from each other’s houses and parents coming home from work.

  Bikes were still scattered on the lawns, covered in a layer of un-raked leaves. This street was always manicured to perfection, but nature was returning to its place. The first fall had covered the ground with a layer of leaves, and the spring had brought the grass, which was already growing long and unkempt.

  Reverend Mac raised his spectacles and pointed to his house. It was on a hill with a dozen steps leading up to the front porch. As we regarded the house, and the steep steps, a noise made us simultaneously turn in its direction. The noise, barking and hoof beats, reached my ears before the sight.