They didn’t want to waste gas by idling all night, so it’d be a cold one in the Humvee. Luckily they had their new hotel blankets and dry clothes to change into. Rose decided to lounge in the front seat so Aaron and Adeline could have the back seat to themselves. Rose half-expected Aaron and Adeline to go at each other, like early-twenty year old people so often do, once they thought Rose was asleep, but they fell asleep almost immediately, their soft breathing hypnotic. Rose decided to stay awake so someone could stand guard, but as hard as she tried, she was unable to keep her eyes open for long. Sleep quickly took over and Rose didn't wake until the next morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was annoyingly sunny. The first morning beams of sun through the trees brought Rose from her dreams like the headlights of an oncoming truck. Unable to avoid their penetrating light, Rose was forced to accept she was awake. Looking around, it didn't appear as if the truck or anything around it had been disturbed overnight. Looking into the back seat, Rose found Aaron and Adeline still asleep, Aaron tightly holding Adeline to his body. Rose tried to reach over them for some food, but only succeed in waking them up.
Both sat up and yawned. They all shared a breakfast of cold corned beef hash from a can and discussed the plan for getting into those cabins. They had to take those cottages to survive, there was just no other option. It was fall and winter would be upon them soon. In the end, they decided they’d try and take prisoners. The idea of killing everyone inside was the obvious, and most extreme starting point, but they quickly dismissed that plan. They’d be no better then the Hell’s Angels they’d so narrowly escaped. However, if presented with violence, they would answer with it. They’d seen enough death to know that. Rose made sure everyone was very clear on that point so there would be no hesitations.
After breakfast, the three made their way back to the end of the cottage driveway in the Humvee. Rose half expected booby traps or armed residents waiting for them with shotguns in hand, but they found the entrance as unguarded as the previous day. This time, they decided to stay as a group as they slowly crept in toward the cottages. The third cottage still had smoke lazily drifting from its chimney and there didn't appear to be anyone around outside. Coming to the same tree she’d been at the day before, Rose, Aaron, and Adeline assumed positions in a crescent shape so they could observe the cottage from all directions and began to wait. The hours seemed to drag by, on and on until it was at least midday. Rose’s stomach was starting to rumble and her legs were cramping. Rose had a lot of patience, but this was starting to wear on her. Rose figured that Adeline and Aaron were in similar states and the prospect of rushing into the house seemed more and more like a good idea the longer they waited. Rose had decided to give the people in the cabin another thirty minutes to come outside or they’d be going in. She communicated this to the others and received a grim nod from Aaron and a wide-eyed gulp from Adeline.
It didn't take thirty minutes, however. Soon after Rose had conveyed to the others the plan, a door on the side of the cottage was yanked open into the cottage and a man exited pushing open a wooden screen door letting it clatter closed after him as he walked into the yard. The man made no effort to be stealthy or reduce the amount of noise he was making. This told Rose that the man thought he was alone and had probably been living here for a while without incident. He appeared to be about Aaron’s height but much skinnier with dark black, shoulder-length hair and a light beard. The man was dressed in a red-and-black checkered jacket with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans, and tan work boots.
Rose could see Adeline stiffen as the man exited the house. Rose whispered over to her and she handed Rose her shotgun trading her for one of Rose’s handguns in return. Reaching into her pocket, Rose took out a shotgun shell with a lead slug in it. At this distance, using a slug would be similar to using a rifle. If Rose used buckshot at this range, by the time the pellets reached the man, the spread would be too wide. The pellets would likely not kill him, but rather maim and more importantly, piss him off. Rose didn’t need him pissed, she needed him dead should he become aggressive. Rose very slowly slid the pump of the shotgun back and ejected the unused buckshot round that had been in the chamber. Rose then took the slug round and placed it into the side port of the rifle. She slowly moved the pump back forward at an excruciatingly slow pace, chambering the slug and minimizing the noise it made. In the meantime, the man had gone about his business after exiting the cottage moving a few things around and then grabbing an axe and hefting it onto his shoulder, whistling as he went. Briefly, Rose questioned if they’d been seen as the man started walking toward them, but instead, he went to a nearby woodpile and attempted to swing the axe into large section of tree trunk, likely a chopping block. The axe barely made a dent in the block, quivering where it was set before inevitably tumbling over the side. The man didn't appear to notice and began selecting logs from the nearby pile.
Rose refocused on the task at hand. The man had begun attempting to chop wood, still oblivious to the group’s presence. His attempts were borderline pathetic as it took him several chops to break apart a rather small log. Rose had to suppress her amusement at the show in front of her. She turned her attention from the man to Aaron who appeared to be crouched and ready to go, focused on his task, not the man. Rose gave Aaron a thumbs up and returned her attention to the man. Rose eased up into a half-squatting, half kneeling position with her butt resting on her right calf while her left knee was raised. Pointing the rifle at the man, Rose rested her left elbow on her left knee while she gripped the pump of the shotgun with her left hand. Rose’s right hand slid down the side of the shotgun tripping the gun’s safety from “Safe” to “Fire” and then she slipped her finger gently onto the trigger. Rose aimed the shotgun at the man’s chest and took a few deep breaths to slow her breathing for a more steady shot.
As Rose lined up her sights, Aaron was making his way for the house, machete in hand. Contrary to Aaron’s usual ability to move silently through the woods, he was making no effort to do so now, subtlety sacrificed for speed. Aaron was almost to the cottage door before the man heard the noise Aaron was making over the noise of his attempts to chop wood. The man brought the axe down and this time, the axe stuck in the chopping block. He turned slightly and reached for a previously unseen gun in his waistband. The man drew the gun from his waistband before Rose could react and went to point it at Aaron. However, as the gun cleared the waistband, it slipped from his fingers and tumbled into the nearby grass. For the briefest of seconds, Rose kept the shotgun fixed on the man’s chest. He had presented a very real threat to Aaron, but he’d also just lost it, making him, for the time being, unarmed.
Adjusting her shot, Rose sent the slug into the ground between the man and the lost gun. The sound of the shot and the spray of dirt when the slug hit the ground seemed to startle the man and he dove to the ground in the opposite direction the gun. As he hit the ground, the man spread his arms wide on the ground, tucked his knees under his chest and stuck his butt in the air as if he was praying to some strange god. Rose moved over to him quickly and put a knee into his back, flattening him to the ground. The man was shaking and a rather large wet stain was quickly developing down the side of his leg.
Aaron hadn’t been paying attention to the man. His job had been to get into the cottage as quickly as possible in case there were others inside who may come out. As Rose saw Aaron disappear through the door, she racked the shotgun’s pump expelling the used shell from the slug and chambering a new round. Continuing to kneel on the man’s back, she kept her eyes and gun fixed on the third and fourth cottages while Adeline covered the first and second. Aaron popped his head out of the cottage he was checking drawing Rose’s attention. “Back room,” he mouthed to Rose and Adeline.
Rose signaled to Adeline to move over to her and assume her kneeling position on the man. “Keep watch on the other cottages best you can,” Rose ordered Adeline, not waiting for a response before moving inside to help Aaron.
Rose quickly ducked inside the third cottage and was immediately taken aback by the comforts. The floor, which was a wooden floor painted a shiny dark green, could almost not be seen as there were so many rugs and furs. The cottage was adorned with rustic wood tables and chairs made from birch branches and logs and laden with thick cushions and furs. The kitchen was crammed with canned and dried food, and there were piles and piles of books by the fireplace. Aaron was at the back of the cottage, machete in hand, at a glossy-stained pine door that was closed. Rose got up next to Aaron and he whispered in her ear “Door’s locked.”
Rose nodded and quickly moved to the opposite side of the doorway. Rose held up her fingers counting down from three. 3...2...1! Aaron kicked in the door and rushed inside followed closely by Rose, shotgun at the ready. The room was a bedroom with no furnishings except a small metal and canvas military-style cot in the back corner covered in furs. Sitting on the cot facing the door with her hands raised, was a woman about Rose’s age. She appeared to be slightly taller than Rose with dark eyebrows, creamy but slightly tan skin, deep blue eyes, and hair that seemed to change from hazel to orange to red depending on how the light hit it. She was wearing a baggy gray Old Navy sweatshirt, jeans and tan boots with brown soles. The woman was wide-eyed in the face of their entrance, but also had an air of self-confidence about her that was immediately apparent to Rose. Rose stayed back toward the door, half way in the bedroom and halfway out with her shotgun aimed at the floor while Aaron moved in closer. Rose was ready should anyone else approach. “Who are you? What’re you doing here?” he demanded.
Keeping her hands raised, she said “My name is Jamie. I was just staying here.” Her voice was soft but had an authority behind it that many soft voices didn't usually have. This was someone who knew how to handle herself, even in stressful situations. Or could at least pretend very well.
“How long have you been here?” Rose asked from behind Aaron, taking a step into the bedroom.
“I got here a few days ago. I’m from Boston and I was hitchhiking north to avoid the infection, but for the last few weeks I’ve just been walking. I came across this park and then stumbled upon this camp. The guy living here, Jacob, he was letting me stay here a few days until I moved on.” Jamie kept her hands raised but the initial shock had faded from her face.
“Stand up,” said Aaron. “Keep your arms raised while we search you.”
Rose moved in and gave the shotgun to Aaron. She had much more experience searching people, especially women. Any women in Green Forks that had been arrested while Rose had been on duty had probably been searched by her. It was just easier to have a woman search a woman. Rose grabbed one of Jamie’s arms and asked her to spread her feet.
“What are you, a cop?” asked Jamie jokingly.
“Actually yes, I was,” said Rose, not joking. The smile quickly withdrew from Jamie’s face.
As Jamie kept her hands in the air, the sleeves of her baggy sweatshirt slid down slightly on each of her arms revealing several tattoos on her arms. They were colorful, exotic, and very well done; more like carefully selected and painstakingly drawn art then a drunken college dare. Rose patted her down and couldn't find any weapons on her arms or legs, moving down to her waistline, she checked around the waistband. Rose found a knife in a leather sheath and a 40 caliber Sig Sauer handgun in a holster around her waistband. Keeping an eye on Jamie, she reached around Jamie to the front of her pants and unbuckled her belt buckle.
“I’m going to take off your belt to get these weapons off you,” Rose told Jamie.
“Whatever you need to do officer,” Jamie deadpanned, her word dripping with sarcasm.
Rose undid the belt and slipped it off taking the knife and the gun as the belt came around. Rose had to lift Jamie’s sweatshirt in the front and the back to accomplish this and observed several more colorful and artfully drawn tattoos on her back and upper pelvic area extending down somewhere below her waistline.
After removing those weapons, Rose moved down Jamie’s pant legs to her boots. Rose lifted Jamie’s pant legs up and checked for more weapons. In addition to even more tattoos, she found another sheathed knife in Jamie’s left boot, nothing in the right. Rose then checked up the inseam of Jamie’s right leg up to where it met the inseam of the left. Using the back of her hand, Rose padded around Jamie’s pelvic area and lower stomach for any remaining weapons. Rose didn't find any but was a little surprised how toned Jamie’s body appeared to be. Pushing that from her mind, Rose continued.
Moving around to the front and side of Jamie, Rose checked around her shirt collar for anything else. Jamie’s sweatshirt had a V-cut front and while checking, Rose could see the top of yet another large tattoo that appeared to be in the upper middle of her chest just below the base of her neck. Again looking like artwork, it appeared to be a heart with a keyhole in the middle surrounded by a large colorful design. Satisfied she’d found all her weapons, Rose took a step back. Jamie was watching her closely with a small smirk on her face.
“Find everything you were looking for?” said Jamie.
Rose could feel her cheeks starting to turn red. “Yes,” she said quickly. “I think I got all of them. Let’s go outside,” said Rose, grabbing the shotgun from Aaron, who also seemed slightly amused, and led the group outside the cottage, Aaron taking up the rear.
Exiting the cabin, Rose met up with Adeline, now standing over the man they’d captured, Jacob. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground looking dejected. “We found her inside, they were the only two in there,” Rose called to Adeline. “She didn’t fight but had several weapons on her. I think I got all of them, but I need you to keep an eye on her as well while we check the other cottages.”
Adeline gave a sideways glance to Jamie before looking back to Rose and nodding. Jamie walked over to Jacob and sat down next to him. He gave Jamie a small glance, but didn't otherwise acknowledge her arrival.
Working as a team, Rose and Aaron cleared the first and second cottages which appeared to have not been used at all. The fireplaces in both buildings were cold and there was no evidence of anyone having lived there. Checking the fourth cottage, they found it much like the third, but appeared to be just for storage. It had many of the same comforts as the third, but wasn’t being lived in. There were stacks upon stacks of food and other items as if Jacob had emptied the contents of a supermarket. After making sure no one was hiding in the cottage, they rejoined Adeline, Jamie, and Jacob who were still sitting where she’d left them. Squatting down in front of Jacob, Rose was shocked to see that he was probably about the same age as Adeline or more likely younger; possibly 18 or 19 years old if Rose had to guess. He had a beard which had fooled Rose into thinking he was older, but upon closer inspection, the beard was just dark, not thick and was likely his first. He was looking at the ground and refusing to meet Rose’s gaze. “We’re not going to hurt you,” said Rose.
“Yeah clearly, you only stormed the place and took us prisoner at gunpoint,” said Jamie, chuckling. “Jacob here, and I were just minding our own business then, boom! Gun shots and strip searches.”
“Well he did have gun,” said Rose reaching over, picking up Jacob’s gun, and showing Jamie. “Not that he seems to be any good at using it.”
“I never liked guns,” mumbled Jacob softly, still looking at the ground at his feet.
“Well, I doubt we’ll have much of an opportunity to improve at this point!” said Jamie slapping Jacob on the back. He coughed and sputtered not expecting the slap. Jamie sighed and looked back over to Rose. “Well time to haul us off to jail I suppose,” she said putting out her hands to be handcuffed. “Slap on those cuffs officer and take us away! Oh wait...jails don’t exist anymore. Hmmm. What to do?” Jamie flashed a cocky grin and shrugged her shoulders, lowering her hands.
Rose was unimpressed. She’d have liked nothing more then to throw Jamie in some handcuffs and lock her in some room somewhere. However, she still had other priorities. Not all the buil
dings been fully searched yet, there was one final building to check.
Marching Jamie and Jacob in front, everyone made their way to the the far side of the cul-de-sac. Rose hadn’t been able to get a good look at the house before but as they approached, she could see it was two levels but appeared to be about twice the size of the larger cottages. It was an actual house, not just a rental cottage.
Ignoring Jamie’s smug looks, Rose turned to Adeline and Aaron. “We need to search this last house,” said Rose, pointing.
“Why would you live in one of the cottages instead of this big house?” Adeline asked Jacob. He didn’t answer and soon, Rose could see tears rolling off his cheeks and splashing in the dirt at his feet.
“Oh nice work,” said Jamie, moving closer to Jacob and patting his back.
“I didn’t mean...I...I’m sorry?” said Adeline, confused by the tears.
Rose wasn’t concerned with the tears, she was wondering the same thing as Adeline. There were surely more comforts and more space in this house than in any of the four cottages. The front of the house had a large porch which had a large propane grill, a set of white plastic chairs, and a white plastic table that looked as though it’d been blown over. The house itself appeared to have not been entered for some time.
Rose turned to Jamie. “You’ve been so helpful so far, care to offer any insight here?”
Jamie shrugged. “He gave me a warm room to stay in for a few days. It didn’t come up.”
Turning her back to Rose, Jamie helped Jacob into a patio chair near the front deck. Jacob’s initial tears had now turned to sobs. Jamie awkwardly moved away from him once he was seated, obviously uncomfortable.
“Alright, Adeline you wait here. Keep an eye on them and cover the front. Aaron and I’ll check the inside,” said Rose. Rose handed Adeline the shotgun back, taking her handgun and unholstering her other. Rose turned to Jamie, “Are we going to have any issues out here?”
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 1): Break Away Page 24