Fall of Houston Series | Book 2 | No Other Choice

by Payne, T. L.

  Isabella looked into her backpack. “This isn’t going to last very long.” She reached out and grabbed the strap of the bag hanging over Kevin’s shoulder. He swung away. Will could hear something rattling inside the bag. Whatever it was, he didn’t want anyone seeing.

  “We really need to hit a grocery store or something,” Gus said.

  “Won’t they be underwater too?” Isabella asked.

  “Yeah, but the cans will still be good. It’s a shame about all the other food just going to waste while folks are starving.”

  “So are we calling it a day then?” Will asked. He was anxious to get back. He didn’t like leaving Cayden that long.

  “I think so. I mean, we should draw a map and make a plan to hit all the stores around here,” Gus said.

  “That might be dangerous,” Jaz pointed out.

  “I know.”

  “We could wait until the water recedes,” Isabella said.

  “We won’t be the only ones searching those apartments across the street,” Jaz pointed out. “There are a couple of groups in there alone. I saw them from my window yesterday. They were doing the same thing we are. They have a head start on gathering supplies. It won’t be long before they strike out to hit the stores.”

  Will considered that bit of information. How many hungry and desperate people were they competing with for supplies? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? The sooner he got away from the city the better in his view. Waiting for the water to recede may not be his best plan of action, considering the danger posed by hordes of wretched and hungry people. Some of them may be desperate enough to want to fight over those green beans that he’d found.

  There was no way he could carry enough food for himself and Cayden to make it to Louisiana. He’d need to find more on the way but with so many others doing the same, he could see it might get pretty dicey out there on the road.

  Isabella turned and descended two steps. She stopped and turned back, eyes wide. “Did you see that?”

  “No. What?” Jaz said, stepping down next to her.

  Isabella pointed to a spot near where the trash dumpsters had been shoved up against a truck in the parking lot. “There. See it?”

  “No. What?” Jaz leaned forward and stared where Isabella had pointed. She jumped back two steps. “What the hell is it?” Jaz said, her pitch high.

  “Oh, my God,” Isabella said, turning and running back up the stairs. She grabbed hold of Will’s arm, spun him around, and buried her head in his back.

  “I don’t see anything,” Kevin said, as he passed Jaz and moved toward the bottom of the stairs.

  “You better not—” Isabella started to say.

  Kevin spotted the alligator just as it lunged for his leg. He placed both hands on the railing and hopped into the air. When he landed, the alligator snapped again, barely missing his foot and biting into the metal spindles of the banister.

  Isabella was screaming in Will’s ear. “Shoot it! Shoot it!”

  Jaz screamed and ran back up the stairs as Gus descended them. Gus yanked Kevin up and away from the deadly jaws before it could strike again.

  Will stepped to the edge of the landing and attempted to aim his pistol at the alligator, but Gus and Kevin blocked his shot. There was no way for him to shoot the gator without hitting the men. The giant beast attempted to climb the concrete steps as Kevin and Gus retreated. Will stepped around the men and took aim, just as the reptile gave up and disappeared from view.

  “I am not going back into that water. No freaking way,” Isabella said.

  “Me neither,” Jaz replied.

  “We can’t stay here all night,” Gus said.

  “The hell we can’t. You can go out there and get eaten by a gator if you want,” Jaz said.

  “We’ll give him time to move on and then hurry back to our place,” Gus said.

  Will walked to the bottom step and scanned the water. There was no sign of the gator. It was at least two or three o’clock in the afternoon by now and Will was exhausted from the heat and humidity. He was wet, smelly, and hungry. “You guys can wait around here, but I need to get back to my son.”

  Will clenched the trash bag filled with supplies under his left arm and gripped his pistol in his right hand before stepping into the murky water.

  “No, Will. It’s still out there,” Isabella said, stepping down to the middle of the staircase.

  “I can’t let every obstacle prevent me from doing what I need to do,” Will said. “You have a pistol and a knife. If it comes for me, shoot it.” Will took in the parking lot. With all the debris floating on the surface of the water, it was impossible to spot a gator snout. His heart raced as he stepped into the water, half expecting to feel the giant jaws clamp onto his leg. He took off as fast as he could move toward Isabella’s building.

  “Wait for me,” Isabella yelled.

  She descended the steps, pistol gripped in both hands. “Do you see him anywhere?”

  “No. Let’s hurry though,” Will said.

  “Wait up,” Jaz said. “Let’s go, Gus. I don’t want to be eaten by no gator.”

  Kevin beat them back to the apartment. He was inside peeling off his wet socks by the time Will and Isabella had dropped off the canned food items to the neighbors across the hall and made it back inside Isabella’s apartment.

  “Thanks for the help, Kev,” Isabella said sarcastically.

  “I figured you two didn’t need me,” Kevin sneered.

  Will left them to straighten out their differences and headed back to the guest room to find Cayden and peel out of his wet clothes. Too bad the trash bags hadn’t worked as well as he’d hoped.

  The band members were still sound asleep on the living room floor. They’d slept through all the screaming outside. Will wondered if Cayden had heard them?

  “A close call?” Cayden asked as Will entered the room.

  “You saw?”

  “Yep. I heard Isabella scream.”

  “The water is likely full of creatures from the bayou,” Will said. “You just need to be watchful.” He didn’t want Cayden to be too frightened to go if he decided to get on the road before the floodwater receded.

  “I’m glad you didn’t shoot it. Its home was disrupted too. It was likely more scared of you guys than you were of him.”

  Will smiled. “I wasn’t scared.” He retrieved the book from his bag and flopped it down on the bed next to Cayden. “Isabella thought you’d like it. If you don’t, blame her.”

  Cayden’s eyes lit up. Will wasn’t sure if it was because of the book or that Isabella had chosen it. He wondered if Cayden might have a little crush on her. She was attractive and Will had daydreamed about his science teacher when he was thirteen. It would be quite normal to find Isabella alluring even though she was his mother’s age. That’s when it dawned on him. Will’s insides twisted. Was Cayden clinging on to her as a mother figure? It was too heartbreaking to think about. His brain was exhausted from trying to find a way to survive. He didn’t have the energy to think about how leaving Isabella behind in a day or two might affect his kid. He’d talk to him about it—later. Right now, he wanted to grab a nap while the band was sleeping. They could be in for another very long night.

  Four

  Savanah

  Day Six

  There’d been no sign of the police. Neither Wade nor anyone from Mayor Thibodeau’s office had come by to check on them. That was because they were busy fending off attacks by Jason’s family. Word had come by way of a cousin, warning Jason to stay away from town until the Blanchards were securely in charge of city hall.

  There’d also been no sign of the rich kids on all-terrain vehicles. Savanah waited on pins and needles for the parents of the boy they’d buried out back to come knocking on her door. They hadn’t. Well, not that they could get to the door. She and Jason had spent the last three days securing the property from intruders. Spurred on by the idea of the spike strip they’d placed along the driveway, Jason had expanded the co
ncept to the fence line along the road. There was nothing to stop someone from hopping the fence from the neighbors’ side. But so far, none of them had seen anyone lurking around.

  Apart from Jason living in her barn, nothing much had changed for Savanah and her children. They carried out their chores, milking the goats twice a day, feeding the chickens and pigs as usual. Savanah had even made soap. This would be for washing clothes. Which now, with Jason, there were more of.

  “Mom,” Keegan yelled. “Kylie ran into me and broke the eggs.”

  Savanah poked her head through the door of her outdoor kitchen to see Keegan squatting over the egg basket on the ground. Kylie was chasing after one of the barn cats.

  “Kylie, you have to be careful. Those eggs are extremely valuable now.”

  “No, they’re not. You can’t even sell them at the store now,” Kylie said, catching up with the kitten.

  “Kylie, put the cat down and go to your room,” Savanah said. Her daughter tossed the kitten aside and slowly walked to the house. “I will be there to talk to you after I help your brother pick up the eggs you broke.”

  “I didn’t mean to get her in trouble,” Keegan said.

  “It’s all right. You did nothing wrong,” Savanah reassured him.

  After they picked up all the eggshells, Savanah tossed them into the pigpen and turned toward the house. She’d made it halfway up the back walk when she heard yelling in the direction of her neighbors, the Bertrands. Savanah stopped and listened. Someone screamed. Savanah took two steps in that direction and turned.

  “Keegan, run and get Jason. Tell him there’s trouble at the Bertrands. Hurry!”

  Jason met Savanah at the fence that divided her property from her sixty-five-year-old neighbors. Charles Bertrand had lived on the property all his life. His second wife had five children that Charles had never got along with. Selfishly, Savanah hoped that any trouble they were having at the moment had to do with family and not the residents of the gated community down the road.

  Jason parted the barbed-wire fence and held it open for Savanah to climb through. They ran toward the barn at the back of the forty-acre property. Jason stopped near the front of the barn, and they listened.

  “You ain’t taking shit from me,” Charles said. “I’ll burn it all to the ground before I let you step foot inside my house.”

  “Put that down, old man,” a young male voice said. “Ain’t nobody got to die here today. We just want a little something for my hungry kid brother, is all.”

  “It’s them,” Savanah whispered.

  “Sounds like it,” Jason said. He flicked the safety off his pistol and stepped around the side of the barn. “Stay here. Let me handle this.”

  “But—”

  “Stay here. I’ll handle it,” Jason interrupted.

  Savanah watched as Jason disappeared around to the front of the two-story white-clad house.

  “I’d put that down if I were you,” Jason said.

  “Really? Seems like we have you outnumbered, Jason,” he said, in a thick south Louisiana drawl.

  “You think you know me?” Jason asked.

  The kid snorted.

  “I know who you are. I know who your family is. I not scared of you.”

  “You should be,” Jason said.

  “Yeah. Why is that?” the kid asked.

  “Because I’m going to do to you what I did to your friend, and then I’m going to dump your body in Mr. B’s pond.”

  “You think so?” the kid asked. “You think you can shoot us all?”

  “I don’t have to. Only you.”

  One of the teens came into view, and then another. They were backing away. They didn’t want any part of what was about to happen—the little cowards.

  “We’ll be back,” the kid said. He held a hunting rifle in his hands as he backed toward the road. “We’re coming back. This road is ours. After we have everything we want from it, we’re going to move into town and take what your family has too.”

  “Big talk from a punk walking away,” Jason said.

  “You’ll see.”

  “You and what army? Your six-year-old brother?” Jason taunted.

  “You’ll see,” the kid repeated.

  Savanah didn’t like it. The kid was too cocky. He could have just been beating his chest because he was embarrassed, but somehow, Savanah got the impression that the kid might be telling the truth, and something big could be about to happen.

  “You guys all right, Mrs. B?” Jason asked.

  Mrs. Bertrand had her arms wrapped around herself and was trembling. She did not look okay.

  “Thank you for coming over when you did. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t,” Mr. Bertrand said.

  “I know what would’ve happened,” Mrs. Bertrand said. “The same thing that’s happened to others along this road. I don’t know what the hell the sheriff has been doing, but no one from the deputy’s office has been out to check on us. It’s like the wild west. We’re on our own.”

  “We’re here for you, Mrs. B,” Savanah said, wrapping her arm around the woman’s shoulders.

  Savanah knew that it was pure luck that they’d been there at the fence separating their two properties and heard the yelling. If they’d been a few minutes later, the Bertrands would have ended up dead like the Johnsons. Something needed to be done to those murderous kids. She just wasn’t in the position to do it herself. Not when there was a chance she’d leave her children orphaned and alone to fend for themselves, or worse, having to rely on their father.

  “We need to find a way to secure our homes from those punks. We need to work together and watch out for one another,” Savanah said.

  Jason turned to face the road. The Bertrands’ house sat less than fifty feet from the street and they didn’t have a fence along the front of the property. Anyone could just walk straight up to their front door any time they liked. He stepped into the driveway and made a circle, examining the layout of their land. It was all open, with only a few trees here and there. Someone could shoot into their house from any angle. There was no way to secure the place.

  “What are you thinking?” Savanah asked.

  “It’s not defendable,” Jason whispered.

  “So, what can we do for them?”

  “Other than moving them the hell off this property?” Jason asked.

  Savanah glanced back at the elderly couple. “Is that a possibility?”

  “It’s the best option, but would they do it?”

  Mrs. Bertrand looked frightened enough to go, but there was no way she’d go without her husband.

  “Only one way to find out,” Savanah said.

  “No way. I can’t leave my animals for them to just waltz in here and take,” Mr. Bertrand said.

  “Bring them with you,” Savanah said, glancing at Jason.

  Jason shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It would be some work to move their chicken coop, but I think if we take out a section of the fence, we can just drive the cattle over onto Savanah’s pasture.”

  Mr. Bertrand looked like he was considering it.

  “I know it sucks, but how much sleep do you think either of you will be able to get knowing they could come back at any time?” Savanah asked.

  “I haven’t slept since the lights went out. Every noise has me up checking for intruders,” Mrs. Bertrand said. “Please, Frank. I’m exhausted. There’s safety in numbers. You said that.”

  “What about our house, our belongings, and my shop?” Mr. Bertrand asked.

  “We can move as much of it over as you’d like. We can board up the house—make it harder for them to break in.”

  “I don’t know. A man works his whole life on a place, and some snot-nosed kids just walk in and run him off his land. It ain’t right,” Mr. Bertrand said.

  “It’s not permanent.” Savanah sure hoped it wouldn’t be. It was going to be crowded with two extra people, and—more particularly—all their stuff. “It’ll just be until th
e sheriff gets out here and arrests those kids.”

  “Someone needs to go down there to his office and tell him to get his ass out here then,” Mrs. Bertrand said. Her pale blue eyes were filled with anger and Savanah didn’t blame her. They’d had their sense of security ripped from them. Savanah hadn’t had that since she’d discovered Derek dealing drugs, but she understood how it felt.

  “We should go and talk to the rest of the neighbors. Maybe between all of us, we could come up with some way to protect everyone while we wait.”

  “Maybe I should go into town and—”

  Savanah held her hand up and interrupted him. “No! No, Jason. We’d be trading one problem for another. We’ll likely have to deal with them at some point, but that’s not the answer.”

  “Okay.”

  Jason sounded like he was still entertaining the idea. He was blind when it came to his family. He had the misguided belief that since he was kin, they’d come to save them but not want to claim the area as their territory. Savanah didn’t buy that for a second but she admired Jason for wanting to help. He had willingly put himself in this situation. He didn’t have to be here. But she was glad he was.

  “Will your tractor start, Mr. B?” Jason asked.

  “Of course. I keep all my equipment in top shape.”

  “Let’s see what we need to do to move that chicken coop then,” Jason said.

  They spent the entire day moving the Bertrands’ canning pantry items over to Savanah’s. Savanah was impressed. The couple still maintained a garden as if they were feeding their two boys. Kendra counted and inventoried as they stacked the quart-sized jars on the shelves and then the floor. They’d moved one hundred and twenty-five jars of tomatoes, tomato sauce, okra, peaches, and a variety of other fruits and vegetables. By the time they’d finished, the pantry was so full they could barely even open the door, and they hadn’t even started on moving the dry goods over.