“Depends on what you’re thinking,” Jameson answered as he held the farmhouse door open for her.
“Well, my uncle raised chickens so there’s plenty of eggs. He has two big freezers full of meat from his pigs and one cow he slaughtered last year. I’m sure there’s some bacon or sausage around. He also used to freeze biscuits for use so I bet he has a couple packs in the fridge, too.”
She moved to the refrigerator and opened it. “Some orange juice,” she commented as she pulled it out. “Milk. Blueberries, and strawberries from the garden. It’s all good stuff.”
“I’ll take some of the fruit and the milk. You uncle has some cereal. A bowl of that will be fine for me.”
“Suit yourself,” Phoebe said as she handed him the gallon of milk. She reached for the cupboard that held bowls, opened it, and pulled one down for Jameson. She also handed him a pen and the notepad.
“I closed the big gate out front,” Jameson said as he poured his cereal. “You’ll need to open it before you go into town. You and Leland should go. Elise can stay with the children.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Phoebe said. She moved toward the stairs. “Don’t eat her or them while we’re gone.”
“Ha ha,” Jameson said to the empty room.
Phoebe met Leland on the stairs. “Shower?” he asked in a half-dazed voice.
“Shower on the second floor, coffee and food in the kitchen,” she said. “We need to get a move on, so let’s do it quick.”
“Mini Hitler,” he mumbled as he made his way to the kitchen.
“She’s doing what she needs to keep her head straight through this,” Jameson commented as Leland entered the kitchen.
“Eavesdrop much?” Leland questioned.
“Can’t help it.” Jameson tapped on his ear and pushed the paper with his handwritten notes toward the teen. “There’s a lot of stuff we need to get. There’s gotta at least be a hardware store in town.”
“Axes,” Leland read from the paper. “Chainsaws, gasoline, heavy duty twine or rope, shovels, work gloves, shelving units, lumber. What are we doing, building a village?”
Jameson shook his head and looked outside, where he’d spent all night digging a perimeter of holes around the farmhouse, garden, and barnyard.
“Nope,” he answered. “We’re building a big fuckin’ wall.”
Phoebe came downstairs with her wavy chestnut hair pulled into a tight bun. She had a baseball cap secured over her mound of russet locks and had donned her same clothes after a brisk wash in the shower.
“We’ll need to hit as many of these little stores in town as we can,” she told Leland as she slipped into her tennis shoes. “Are you ready?”
Leland held up his empty cup and gestured to the coffee pot. “I haven’t even…” he began. Phoebe sighed.
“I talked to Elise and she’s fine with staying with the kids,” Phoebe said. “She wants clothes, nonperishables, and kids’ needs added to that list of yours, Jameson. Also, anything and everything needed for the coming of the baby. Blankets, diapers, rash cream, first aid supplies, formula bottles, you get the drift.”
Jameson grabbed the list and quickly penned in the additions. “Better get moving, Leland,” he suggested. “I don’t think Phoebe is keen on waiting for you.”
“I wish I could drive one of Uncle Shaun’s trucks but I’m just not good enough yet,” Phoebe said with another sigh. “We could do so much more if we had two vehicles.”
“How about three?” Jameson asked as he lifted his head and listened. “There are two vehicles coming up the driveway.”
“The sun’s up,” Phoebe said in a hesitant voice. “You can’t go out to meet them.”
“Let them come in,” Leland suggested as he hurriedly drank down his coffee. He hissed. “Damn. Burned my tongue.”
“Grab the gun,” Phoebe said to Jameson.
The vampire stood and handled the gun to her. “I don’t need it,” he assured her.
Phoebe took the weapon in hand. She was familiar with the rough grip and sleek barrel. Though her mother hadn’t liked it, Uncle Shaun had taken her shooting often. She wasn’t a fantastic shot, but she could pretty reliably hit what she aimed at.
Leland rushed upstairs and grabbed his bat. He returned to the kitchen as the cars finished the drive up the long driveway and parked in front of the house.
“Is the door locked?” Phoebe questioned.
“I didn’t lock it when we came in,” Jameson said. “I don’t fear being sneaked up on.”
“I didn’t lock it, either,” Phoebe admitted. “I guess whoever’s out there is welcome to come in.”
A knock sounded at the door and a voice called out, “Hello? Is anyone in there?”
Phoebe frowned toward the door. It had been a while since she’d heard it, but she recognized that voice.
“Dad?” she questioned as she moved toward the door. She said it louder as she started to run. “Dad?! Is that you?!”
The door was flung open and a man with the same wave in his light brown hair and the same surprise in his wide hazel eyes looked in as Phoebe ran from the kitchen.
“Phoebe?” he exclaimed. She hit him at a run and he wrapped his arms around her. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here! Where’s your uncle?”
Phoebe pulled back from her father and gave him a sad shake of her head. “They got overrun somehow. Uncle Shaun didn’t make it. Jameson buried him out back.”
She pulled Gerry into the house and led him to the kitchen. “This is Jameson and Leland.” She made the introductions with a wave of her hand toward the men when she said their names.
“Well, I can see we have a lot to talk about,” Gerry said as he sat at the counter. “Is that coffee? Can I have some?”
Phoebe nodded and grabbed a cup for her father. As she filled it, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, “It’s all clear, guys. Come on in.”
Chapter Twenty-Two – Defenses
Two people entered the kitchen. Phoebe recognized one of them as her Uncle Arthur, whom she’d always called Uncle Art. A woman Phoebe had never seen moved to Gerry’s side as soon as she entered the room and clutched at his shoulder.
Gerry patted her hand and smiled up at her. “Jenn, this is Phoebe. These two are Jameson and Leland, but we’ve just met ourselves. Can’t tell you much about them.”
Jenn smiled at Phoebe. “But I’ve heard so much about you, dear,” she said.
When Jenn approached, Phoebe took a step back. “Not really down for a meet and greet right now,” Phoebe said softly. “We have a lot to do today. We need to get this place secure.”
“Of course,” Gerry said as he stood.
Phoebe had gotten over the momentary shock and euphoria that accompanied seeing her father alive. Instead, all the anger and angst that were attached to thoughts of her father made her face stern and her voice icy. Gerry had abandoned her before and now he was here, at the end of the world, and with a woman, no less.
“Gerry and Jenn can drive one vehicle apiece and help us gather stuff in town. Trucks, preferably. You can take Uncle Shaun’s if you didn’t drive a truck or larger vehicle here. Uncle Art, can you stay here with our other group member, Elise?”
“Sure thing, kiddo,” Art said. “Where’s she at?”
“Upstairs in the kids’ rooms. We have two little ones with us; Eli and Carmen. They’re pretty shook up. We want to get things stable as we can for them.”
With a nod, Art took the stairs up. He paused halfway up and turned around to say, “It’s good to see ya, kiddo.”
Phoebe forced a smile her uncle’s way and turned to Leland. “You’ll have to shower later,” she told him. “We’ve wasted enough time as is.”
Leland looked longingly up the stairs but nodded his agreement. “You gonna ride in the van with me?” he asked.
“Yep,” Phoebe said. “Let’s get going. We’ll take the small stuff. Nonperishables, clothes, soap, and the like. Gerry and Jenn can
hit the hardware store and get the big stuff from there using the trucks. Jameson, will you write out another list for them?”
Jameson nodded and spun the notepad back to him. He picked up the pen and began writing again.
“Oh,” Phoebe said to her father as she turned to show him the wound on her neck and pointed to Jameson. “He’s a vampire. And, yes, he bites.”
With this, Phoebe turned and walked toward the front door. Leland followed. He heard Phoebe’s father mutter, “What the fuck?” as they left.
It took three and a half hours to collect all the items on the list. Between Gerry, Jenn, Phoebe, and Leland, they packed each of their three vehicles twice to the bursting point.
They went back inside after they had unloaded all of their collected goodies into several large piles in front of the porch.
“Okay, now what should we be doing?” Phoebe asked Jameson after she woke him up.
Jameson groaned and swatted at her. Elise had helped him nail dark blankets over the single window in the room he’d taken on the second floor. With the door closed, he’d been cocooned in a safe zone of shadows. But a certain teenage girl had decided to jump on his bed and dredge him out of deep sleep after only a few hours of comfort.
“Your dad wants to douse me in holy water and tie me up with blessed silver,” Jameson growled. “Not only does he think I regularly feed from you, he thinks I’ve corrupted you and defiled your innocence.”
“I doubt he even cares,” Phoebe mumbled as she nudged Jameson’s leg with her knee. “Come on. What do we need to do?”
“Cut down trees,” Jameson said in an irritated tone. “Cut down big, thick, tall ones. Let them fall and leave them for the night. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Okay, that’s weird. What if there are Rippers around and they hear us cutting?”
“Then I guess you better cut them,” Jameson told her. “Now let me sleep. I have a lot of freaking work to do tonight.”
“All right. Sleep well.”
Phoebe shimmied off the bed and jogged for the door. “Doesn’t she ever do anything slow?” Jameson wondered aloud. He rolled himself back over and bunched up blankets. Closing his eyes, he willed himself back to sleep before the tree chopping started. If he didn’t fall asleep before they started working, he would never be able to go back down.
“All right, we’ve got orders,” Phoebe said as she entered the living room where everyone had begun stacking materials. The supplies would be dispersed throughout storage areas when they were determined but for now, Phoebe wanted everything in one central location so it could be catalogued. That’s what her mom had always done at the daycare, and it seemed like a good habit to be in.
“What are we doing?” Leland asked.
“Chopping down trees, lot of them. Jameson said just let them fall and he’ll deal with them when the sun goes down. Come on, let’s go.” When Elise stood, Phoebe gave her a scolding look. “Come on, Elise, not you. Chopping trees is not something a pregnant woman should be doing.”
“Guess I’ll just bring y’all some lemonade or sweet tea when you get thirsty, eh?” she asked wryly as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts.
“No, you can catalogue the supplies, though,” Phoebe suggested.
Elise sighed. “All right.”
“Call out back if any Rippers come or if you need one of us,” Leland said as he hefted one of the large axes and took several of the work gloves they’d commandeered from the hardware store.
“Here you go,” Phoebe said as she handed Elise a notebook and a pen. “Why don’t you do a page for clothes, a page for nonperishables, a page for perishables, and a page for miscellaneous?”
“Yeah,” Elise said with a sigh as she accepted the writing paraphernalia. “Why don’t I?”
They spent the day chopping trees on the far edges of the property, farthest away from the road. Art and Gerry were an effective team and worked the chainsaws all day long. The whine and buzz echoed over the property until they were out of all but one gas can and decided to call it a day.
“I can’t believe we only got twelve of them down,” Leland complained. He was sore all over. Three pairs of gloves had been destroyed by the hard work and he had callouses under his burst blood blisters.
No one else had made out any better. Both Phoebe and Jenn seemed to have suffered the worst from the intense physical labor, but they were both too tired to complain.
Not a single Ripper had confronted them all day. Leland knew that didn’t mean there weren’t several on their way. Upon hearing the commotion of their tree felling, the creatures could have been drawn even through the vast forest and field that stretched until another town joined up with it.
Phoebe had explained, when she had breath to speak, how isolated her uncle’s farm was. Forests, fields, and another town many miles away. The closest human population existed in the town of Greenville itself, and it was completely abandoned. They’d been all through the town and had seen no one. Not in any stores they’d looted or any homes they’d passed.
“We’re alone for the most part,” Phoebe had said. “Except for each other.”
They passed Jameson on their way into the house. He’d made sure to stay inside his room for the brightest part of the day and had slept deeply and well.
When he saw how exhausted the group looked when they came inside, he hoped he’d be able to finish what they started. None of them were in any position to fight if anything came at them in the night.
“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had a shower,” Phoebe said as she held a hand up to him. “I’ve literally never felt this bad in my entire life.”
“Seconded,” Leland groaned. “Tell me there’s more than one bathroom.”
“There are three altogether,” Phoebe answered. “The one on this level is a half bath with a stand up shower. The two on the top floors have bathtubs. I call one.”
Eli and Carmen ran down the stairs. Carmen had bounced back surprisingly well after a full night’s sleep and a day in Elise’s presence. The pregnant woman followed the children downstairs, one hand on her belly and one on her back.
“If I’m going to be playing den mother after this baby comes, I think I’m going to need a nanny or three,” she joked with a smile. Her face fell when she saw the dirty, sweaty, exhausted group. “Oh, you all look awful! I have a roast on for dinner. Everyone take some time to wash up while I start on the mashed potatoes. We’ll have some corn and a salad, too.”
Elise led Carmen and Eli into the kitchen. She said, “Come along, you two. We’ll color something while I cook.”
“We can share the second floor bathroom and then Art can hop in after us,” Gerry suggested to Jenn. He squeezed her against him and she gave him a tired smile before lifting her lips to his for a gentle kiss.
“Whoever gets done first, I think,” Art said as he watched his brother embrace his young wife. “I just want to wash off all this work.”
Leland had already gone to the bathroom on the first floor, right off the kitchen. Phoebe wanted to race upstairs, but it took enough effort just to drag herself up one step at a time with a hand on the railing.
“We can’t do that again, Jameson,” she said in a conversational tone, even though he was a floor lower than she was. “We’re only human.”
Jameson nodded. The sun was about to go down. He needed to get to work.
Chapter Twenty-Three – The Wall
When Phoebe left the bathroom after thirty minutes, she felt moderately refreshed. Her body still ached from what she’d put it through and her head felt like it wanted to explode but the long soak in a steaming bath had eased her hurts some.
The sun had set and darkness had begun to settle into the house. A cool evening breeze floated in from the open door.
“So, what’s the plan?” Phoebe asked as she came upon Leland. He sat at the table, shoveling roast and potatoes into his mouth with gusto. The insane amount of work they’d done had contributed enormously to h
is already large appetite.
“Jameson said he’s going to finish it up. I don’t know how he thinks he’s going to cut down sixty-eight more trees like he says he needs, but I gotta see it if he does.”
Because the forest butted up to the property on three sides, Jameson had said it was the front that mostly needed to be enforced. Around each of the front lines of trees, which he’d insisted they didn’t chop, he intended to weave fencing and barbed wire. He’d said they would be able to electrify them eventually. The plan was not only to make a warning system for them, but to get Rippers tangled if they approached, as well.
“We’ll reinforce the walls eventually,” Jameson told Art as the man followed the vampire outside. Jameson had an axe slung over his shoulder and senses stretched out as far as they would go. He still heard and saw no Rippers.
“With what?” Art asked.
“Trees from other parts of town,” Jameson said. “We’ll use the seventy or so from around here, but I don’t want to thin this place out too much. Did you drive the unused vehicles and farm equipment and park them in front of the holes I dug up front?”
“Indeed we did,” Art responded. “Now you want to tell me what your plan is?”
“I’m going to pick the trees up you all cut down and put them in the holes. Then I’m going to cut more down and finish the perimeter. I dug seventy holes. We’ll have to bind them with the rope and twine if we can. It can hold until morning, but I’d prefer to do it tonight.”
Art eyed the first tree they came to with suspicion. “You’re just gonna pick ‘em up, eh?”
Jameson dropped his axe and squatted near the first tree. He wrapped his arms around the base of the thick oak and hoped his vampire strength wouldn’t fail him. He’d never tested it, but Joselyn had assured him he would be able to lift cars with little effort. Trees, cars, it seemed like the same rule should apply.
He lifted and straightened, balancing the tree straight up. Leaves and small branches fell down to land on him as he walked toward the side yard, near the barn.
The most difficult part for him was the awkwardness of carrying a full-grown tree, Jameson realized. With a grunt, he placed the tree in one of the holes he’d dug and held it in place.
The New Night Novels (Book 1): Rippers: A New Night Novel Page 12