by Kip Nelson
Suddenly a supernatural explanation made more sense to some of those on the patrol. It was the only way to explain the inexplicable, but it left them feeling helpless. How could they defend themselves against an enemy that remained a mystery? Fear was starting to seize all of those around Grace, and she could see them crumbling before her eyes. Each of them were panicking.
“What if tonight I'm the one who’s taken,” they all thought to themselves privately, and a few of them said it out loud as well.
Unfortunately, Grace didn't have any answers for them, and this was perhaps her greatest test as a leader. Somehow, she had to rally their morale, when all anyone wanted to do was to stay safe and leave this forsaken place. They started thinking of this area as cursed, as if it were some sort of Bermuda Triangle, and the worry was written all over their faces.
“You're going to have to do something about this, Grace. This isn't good,” Anna said.
For the most part, the people of New Haven were resolute and sturdy, and they could deal with whatever life threw at them. However, this was a threat unseen and that made the fear grow to an unmanageable degree. Nobody could offer any facts to comfort them, or a plan. Grace stood there in the midst of it all, while people debated among themselves.
“We should go back to New Haven and get reinforcements. This is going to be another war! They can't just keep taking us without us doing anything about it, and we can't stay here night after night and wait to be picked off. Eventually, we'll get to a point where there are only a handful of us left, and then where will we be? We'll stand less of a chance of making it out of here than we do now, and there won't be anyone to warn New Haven,” one man said.
“I agree that we shouldn't stay here, but we can't just go to New Haven,” a woman replied. “We came out here to find food, and we can't just go back empty-handed. We all know how important it is to find food on this patrol, and there's nowhere else to look. We have to carry on out here, and do our best to make sure we take care of the people who are left.”
“And leave the ones who already have been taken?” Gary said incredulously.
The woman, and a few others who agreed with her position, merely offered a weak shrug in return. It wasn't particularly what anyone wanted to do, but it seemed to make sense. Gary shook his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.
“We're not going to leave anyone out here,” Saul said gruffly, feeling as though it was his duty to step in and calm things down before they escalated any further. But, of course, given his size and the way he naturally appeared to be aggressive, he was never one to calm down an argument.
“Do you really want to be the one to go to Mack and tell him we left people out here? I've known him long enough to tell you what his reaction will be.”
“Well, Mack isn't here, is he?” the woman snapped.
“We are, and we have to do whatever we can to survive. I'm not saying we must leave them here forever, just until we can figure out what's going on. You can't tell me that it makes sense to stay here, searching aimlessly through the days, and then waiting for someone to be taken at night. I can't believe anyone would think that was a good idea.”
“This isn't helping anyone,” Anna said, stepping in.
“Saul is right, and you all know it. Mack has tried to instill his values in all of us, and by living in New Haven you have agreed to live by those values. That includes never leaving anyone behind. How do you think the two of them feel right now, having been taken? Wherever they are, they know we're doing everything we can to find them and bring them back, and you'd be feeling exactly the same way if you were in their position.”
“I'd love to be able to help them, I'm just saying that we need to prioritize a bit. The entire settlement needs to be fed, and we can't sacrifice their well-being for the sake of just two people. I know that sounds harsh, but we have to be pragmatic in these situations.”
“You're scared, and you've every right to be, but that doesn't mean we have to slip back into selfishness, only looking out for ourselves,” Anna continued. “It means we have to be stronger and able to look past our fear to help everyone we care about.”
However, her calm words did not do anything. People were too frightened to think clearly, and now that the discussion had been started everyone wanted to put forward their two cents. Soon they began talking over each other, and the volume rose to an untenable level. Soon people had to shout to be heard. They yelled at each other, and soon the arguments spilled into other issues besides what to do about the abducted members of their party. Long-held grudges surfaced, and insults were thrown around. Anna and Saul, the other two most senior members of the group, also couldn't calm them down.
And all the while Grace stood away from them, wondering if she had what it took to quell the anger and fear all of them were feeling. She was lost in her own mind, and the venomous words the rest of the patrol were flinging back and forth like arrows and spears faded into the background. She stared out at the city, wishing she knew exactly what to do, wishing that she had a mind more like Mack’s, trained to think of a plan to deal with any situation. All she wanted was tell them what they should do and how they should do it, to give them guidance, but she couldn't find the words.
Perhaps Luis was right, she thought. Perhaps she wasn't made for this, and she was supposed to stay away from the patrols and remain in New Haven where she could direct things from behind the scenes. Perhaps she just had been fooling herself into thinking she was anything other than a fraud, and that all her successes up to that point had been nothing but luck. She wasn't anything special, just another person who had been caught up in the whirlwind of the apocalypse. How much had she changed, really? She still had no parents, and for all the things she had accomplished in the apocalypse, there were days when she didn't feel any different than the girl who had been scared of the world.
Luis knew her better than anyone, and even he had said she should stay where it was safe. Maybe he was right, and this whole endeavor had been doomed from the start. She never should had led the patrol, she should have let someone more capable than her do it.
But then, a voice whispered in her mind. At first, she barely could hear it, but it soon grew louder and stronger, until it wasn't a whisper at all, but a full-blown thundering shout. It was Mack's voice, reminding her of all she had done, of all the ways she had grown and changed since they first had met. Grace pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. She could picture Mack lecturing her, inspiring her, and she felt a swell of courage rise inside her. A smile played on her lips, and she knew the voice was right. She knew that more than anything. She only had to shed the skin of the past and embrace the fact that she had changed. She had to leave the person she was behind and fully live the life she now owned. She was a leader. She was someone who could take charge and inspire people. She was someone who could find her way out of desperate situations, just as Mack could, and if other people didn't believe in her, then that didn't matter because she believed in herself, and she always would.
All of a sudden, the noises around her came crashing through. It was as though they all had been muffled while she had been lost in her own mind. Now that she was free of that, the cacophony rose dramatically, and she was caught in the maelstrom.
“Stop! All of you!” she screamed, whipping herself around to face them. She strode into the middle of them. They were so shocked to hear the ferocity in her voice that they were immediately silenced, and though she was but a petite girl, she had an imposing aura about her.
“I've listened to you all and you all have to stop this. This isn't getting us anywhere. I know you're frustrated and scared. I am as well. Whoever these people are, they have an advantage over us because we have no idea who they are, where they're hiding, or how many of them there are. But that doesn't mean things are hopeless. We're not going to turn back to New Haven, not now. That's not an option. The longer we leave them out here, the harder it's going to be to find them. We're also not go
ing to continue into the forest to look for food, not yet anyway. We still have a window of time to stay here for a little bit longer and I'm going to use every minute of that to get our people back. Believe me, I'm not going to let everyone in New Haven starve, but every life in New Haven matters, and I know that I wouldn't be able to enjoy one scrap of any food we get if they're still out here.”
“So, what are we going to do? Just stay here and wait for someone else to be taken and hope that this time whoever these people are will make a mistake? I don't want my life to hinge on that,” one of the dissenting voices said.
“Oh no, we're not going to go anywhere. We're going to set a trap, but it's not going to work unless we all work together. So, I suggest that we stop arguing and get to work, because it's going to be a long night.”
Everyone felt better now that there was a plan in place and something on which to focus their minds. Grace outlined the plan to them. It was simple, but one they hoped would prove effective nonetheless. They would lay in wait at night to pounce, and hopefully catch someone before they were able to take another member of the patrol. As soon as darkness fell, Grace and a few others stayed awake all through the night, waiting and waiting. The minutes turned into hours, and they all remained silent. As time went on, Grace began to fear that this was the night when nobody would be taken at all. They couldn't afford to waste the days waiting for the nights to come around. If the enemy was watching them, they may well have known that Grace and the others were laying in wait, and could have changed their plans.
However, just as Grace was getting ready to call it a night, they heard a sound. In the dim light of the night, they saw a couple of shadowy figures skulking through the camp. Grace and the others jumped up, yelling at them to stop. The mystery figures turned to run, but Grace quickly fired a shot in the air. The bang echoed through the silence of the night and made the mystery figures fall to their knees, holding their hands up in the air. Others went up to them and pointed their guns at the pair, making sure they would make no sudden movements. Torches were lit so Grace and the others could see them properly. She pulled back their hoods and was glad to see that their faces were human after all, and that there was nothing supernatural about them. Grace stared down at them, hating them for what they had done.
Their thick cloaks stank, and everyone standing around them had to pinch their noses just to stay near them.
“Who are you? Where have you come from? What have you done with our people?” Grace demanded, the gun never wavering in her hand.
“We're not ready to tell you yet. We need more time,” one of the prisoners said. But due to the stench that hung around them, there was only one possible place they could have come from; the sewers.
Chapter Nineteen
“Tie them up and keep a close eye on them. I don't want them sneaking off,” Grace said as she moved away with some of the others. They formed a tight circle and discussed this new revelation, and all the ramifications it entailed.
“I'm just going to say this now because it needs to be said. They stink,” Saul said, grimacing. Even though they only had been standing next to the sewer-dwellers for a few moments, the foul stench already was lingering and whenever they took a breath, they got a whiff of it.
“What are we going to do with them?” Gary asked.
“We'll interrogate them and find out what they know. I don't like the idea of anyone being dragged down into the sewers. It's a grim fate,” Grace said.
“Although it does explain where everyone in the city went, at least, assuming there are more people down there,” Anna said.
“It wouldn't surprise me, although how anyone could live down there I do not know. We'll leave them to sweat a little longer. Hopefully they're not used to being around other people and we can scare them into telling us what's going on. We'll have to be careful, though. We don't want to start another war,” Grace said.
“If there is going to be another war, they started it by taking our people,” Saul said.
“No, we're not going to react like that. We're going to try handling this diplomatically, and if anything needs to be done, then we'll get back to New Haven and defend it. But while we're out here I don't want anyone turning to violence unless it's absolutely necessary. Spread that message, because those people are now our hostages, and we should treat them in the way that we want our people to be treated,” Grace said.
“What do you think they want with us?” Gary asked.
“Could be anything. Maybe they want intel. Maybe they want people to join them. The only way we'll find out is if they talk, even though they don't seem to be the type to talk,” Grace said.
“I wonder how long they've been down there for,” Anna asked.
“I'm guessing for a long time,” Saul said. “Gary, you were in the city when this all happened. How long did it take for you to notice the place was empty?”
Gary blew out his cheeks as he thought about the answer. “It's hard to say, really. Things were so chaotic in the first days. I guess maybe a couple of weeks or so is when we started noticing that everything was abandoned. That's when the riots first started to die down. We just assumed people were staying indoors, and that's why the streets were empty. After that, well, conditions were so bad that either people died, or they left the city to find somewhere new. We were so focused on our own survival that we didn't give too much thought to anyone else.”
Grace had a thoughtful look on her face as she considered what to do next. She gazed down at the ground and thought about the possibility that there were people directly below her. No wonder they had been able to sneak away without being detected. None of the patrol even had considered the possibility that there were people living in the sewers, but somehow it all made sense. She pitied the ones who had been taken, for she hated the idea of being dragged through the cesspool of the sewers.
The area was lit by torches, which gave the camp a ghastly glow. The two cloaked figures remained silent while they were held at gunpoint, exchanging a few looks, but otherwise not showing any sign of humanity. As Grace looked at them, she wondered just how much humanity was left in them. Living in the sewers must have taken a toll on their mental state. She'd already seen how being stranded at sea had affected the sailors and, in her opinion, living in the sewers was far worse, being surrounded by all the waste and refuse that got churned under the surface of the city, rivers of excrement and rotten things that were hidden away from the eyes of everyone above. And they could have been below her feet at that very moment, scurrying around, ready to strike. For all she knew this was an ambush, and at any point they could emerge from the sewers, perhaps a countless number of them, ready to overwhelm the patrol. And, thinking about it, since the sewers formed a network under the city, they could strike anywhere at any time. Perhaps even in New Haven itself...
Grace suddenly was seized by fear, and she knew she had to act quickly. Time was of the essence, not only to retrieve the people they had lost, but also to warn New Haven about this potential new threat. Although she had made it clear that they were not to react with violence, she found it easy to believe that these people were hostile, and would pose a threat to the safety of New Haven if given a chance. The last time she tried to interrogate someone it had not worked out well, and she had been played. The woman who escaped eventually shot Luis, and for a time she thought she was going to lose him for good. That was one of the moments where she realized she truly loved him, and she wasn't going to make the same mistake again. She was going to get information from these men, and she was going to make it count.
She strode through the darkness and put her gun against the small of her back when she reached the two men on their knees. She told the other guards to move away, and they obeyed her, although they gave her questioning looks. Grace stood before the cloaked figures, and had to make a concerted effort not to gag. But she wanted to show that nothing intimidated her. Not even the nauseating smell.
“I'm going to ask you again.
Where are you from? What have you done with our people? Why are you here?”
The two men looked at each other, but continued to stare at the ground, not offering Grace anything in the way of a response.
“Okay,” she continued, “let's do this another way. I'm pretty sure we know where you're from. The smell kinda gives you away, and the sewers are the only rational explanation for how you were able to sneak into this camp without leaving a trace. We should have thought of it sooner, really, but that's our own fault.” The men shot each other a look, and Grace knew she was on the right track.
“As for what you've done with our people, well, that's another matter entirely. I could assume that you're acting out of fear, that you think we're an aggressive group, so you took a few of our people to determine our true intentions. Maybe you're a small group yourselves, and are afraid of getting into a fight you can't win. But I'm not so sure about that because I'm not sure you'd take the risk of exposing yourselves, especially not night after night.”
Grace paced back and forth, speaking her thoughts out loud, taking note of any reaction from the people kneeling before her. Their expressions were reserved, though, and they did not betray their inner thoughts, so Grace had to continue.
“Of course, if the opposite is true, then you have a large number, and you could be aggressive yourselves. That means you've abducted those people to try gauging our strength, to see how we respond, and to interrogate them to learn about where we come from. The fact that you've come for more people could mean that you want to weaken us as well, so that when you do attack we are more vulnerable. Yes, that could be what you are doing. The other possibility is that you're trying to recruit people to increase your numbers, dragging them down to the sewers to work for you, but that doesn't seem to be a good use of your time. You'd have to put guards on them to make sure they didn't try to escape, but I could see it because nobody ever would join you voluntarily. If there's anything I missed, please let me know, but I think I've covered everything,” she said, and then waited expectantly for them to talk again.