by Payne, T. L.
Karson and Jason helped Mr. B herd the cows over to the corral by the barn for the night and it was dark by the time they’d move the last of their things over. They ate soup from the can for dinner and moved Kendra’s things to the room in the attic. She didn’t seem to mind giving up her room to the couple.
Once the Bertrands and the children were settled in for the night, Savanah joined Jason out by the barn. She found him seated in a lawn chair just outside the corral, watching Mr. B’s cows.
Savanah overturned a bucket, slung her rifle over her back, and took a seat beside him. “Do you think they’ll be back tonight?”
“Nah, not tonight. Did you see that kid almost pissed his pants when he saw us? He’s a coward, praying on the elderly and weak. He knows we are neither,” Jason said.
“Where in the world are those kids’ parents? Where do they think all that food is coming from, the grocery?” Savanah asked.
“They don’t care. As long as they eat, they don’t care where it’s coming from,” Jason said.
“I refuse to believe that. Maybe we should go and talk to them—tell them what they’ve been up to out here.”
“That’s a very bad idea,” Jason said.
“Why? It might work”
“Have you forgotten that we have one of their sons buried in your back pasture?”
That was like a gut punch. She hadn’t forgotten. She was just desperate for this nightmare to end.
They sat quietly for a long time, listening to the frogs croak, until Jason announced he wanted to patrol the fence line. Savanah stayed and tried to think of some other way to reach the gated community’s residents. They needed to know if the parents were complicit in their kids’ crimes before they talked to the neighbors about what to do about them.
Twenty minutes later, Jason returned. He’d been smart and announced himself well in advance of approaching her in the dark. “See anything out there?” Savanah asked as he settled back into his lawn chair.
“No. All seems quiet. Except for those big-ass bullfrogs down at the gully.”
Savanah laughed. “They may be noisy, but they’re good eating.”
She pictured her two sons shining their little flashlights on the bank and Keegan diving to catch one. Her kids loved playing in the water—when she allowed them to. They had to be so careful of alligators, even in small gullies like the one that ran behind her farm.
An idea formed. “Jason, I have an idea.”
Jason didn’t answer. That’s when she noticed his head lolling to one side. She reached out and touched his arm. None of them had gotten much sleep recently. Exhaustion was kicking their butts.
“What?” Jason said, sitting up straight in his chair.
“It’s nothing. I just had an idea about how we could spy on that gated community and maybe find out what they’re planning.”
Five
Will
Day Six
By day six, it finally stopped raining. It had been another sleepless night. This time, he’d been awake listening to Isabella and Kevin’s heated fight. That hadn’t been the only explosion, either. Somewhere in the distance, something had blown up. He’d checked from the bedroom window but couldn’t see anything. He’d thought about going and looking out the windows in the living room that faced south but decided it would be too awkward, considering the love birds were in there having a quarrel.
Sometime in the early morning hours, the band decided to move downstairs to one of the other unoccupied apartments. Will wasn’t sure what would happen if the tenants that lived there returned but it wasn’t his problem.
Thankfully, Cayden had slept through it all. As the sun was peeking through the slit in the curtains, Will tiptoed down the short hall and poked his head into the living room. It was vacant. Isabella and Kevin must have worked out their differences and gone to bed. As he made his way across the living room, Will wondered how he could ditch them and go out scavenging on his own. He pulled back the curtain and shielded his eyes from the sun. After his eyes adjusted, he lowered his hand and stared out at the thick black smoke coming from the direction of the Gulf Freeway and Beltway Eight interchange.
“What’s on fire now?” Cayden asked from behind him.
“I’m not sure. It’s too close to be one of the refineries reigniting.”
“Something burning?” Isabella asked, rubbing her eyes as she entered the room.
“Could be vehicles on the freeway,” Will said.
“What would cause that? Aren’t they soaked from sitting in water for days?”
“I’m not sure, really. I heard an explosion last night. It looks like it’s still burning, whatever it is.”
“Maybe we should go check it out,” Cayden suggested.
“No, it’s too risky.” Will turned away from the window.
Isabella yawned and stretched her arms above her head and Will couldn’t help but notice how fit she was. He glanced over at Cayden and their eyes met. Will couldn’t read the look on his face. Was he upset that he thought Will was checking Isabella out? He wasn’t, he told himself. She had a boyfriend. Isabella turned her back to them and Cayden nodded toward her. “Ask her,” he mouthed.
Will checked over his shoulder. It was the first time since they’d arrived that they’d been alone. He didn’t want a confrontation with her boyfriend, though after her fight with him last night, Isabella may be more open to following them to Louisiana. He wished he’d talked to Cayden about it—prepared him for the possibility that she’d say no and explained all the reasons so he’d know it wasn’t because she didn’t care.
Will hesitated a little too long, trying to think of just the right thing to say, knowing it might be a tough sell to convince her to follow two relative strangers one hundred and fifty miles under the circumstances.
“Isabella, my dad and I want you to come to Louisiana with us,” Cayden said.
Isabella turned to face him. Her mouth was open, but no words came out. She looked at Will and then back to Cayden. “I… um… I,” she stammered.
“It’s not safe here, Isabella. You can see that. Help isn’t coming. Things are only going to get worse in the city. You can come with us. We can have each other’s backs,” Will said.
“I… I don’t know. I mean…”
“My aunt Savanah is really nice. You’ll like her. Her farm is great. They have chickens, ducks, goats, and lots of other animals. She makes her own soaps and lotions. They’ve lived without electricity for a few years. We can make it there. It’s far enough from the city to be safe,” Cayden said.
“And she’d have room for another mouth to feed? I don’t know. What if I got there and she objected?”
“She won’t. I assure you,” Will said.
Isabella stared off down the hall. Despite the fight the night before, she had a boyfriend and they hadn’t extended the invitation to Kevin. It hadn’t even crossed Will’s mind that she’d expect him to be included. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He didn’t trust the man. There was no way he would put his son at risk out on the road with the irresponsible man. He’d get them all killed.
“Just think about it,” Will said. “We’re planning on leaving when the water goes down.”
She returned her gaze to him and Cayden, but the deer in the headlights look told Will that she was torn and scared. He didn’t blame her. They both knew what they’d face out there. It would be dangerous. But it was going to get deadly in the city very soon.
“I’m going to go get dressed,” Will said, breaking the tension. “I want to check out the grocery store today before that other group that Gus mentioned has a chance to clear it out.”
Isabella shook her head.
“What?” Will asked. Did she now have a problem with looting again?
“I can’t believe it has come to this. It’s just—”
“I know,” Will said, softening his tone.
He understood the moral dilemma—the blurred lines between right and wrong. He wasn’t s
ure he knew the difference anymore. Where did one draw the line when fighting for the survival of those you cared about?
She lowered herself to the chair and buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shuddered. Cayden moved to her side and placed his hand on her back.
“I just want things to go back to normal. I hate this. All of this,” Isabella said through tears.
Will thought about saying what was easy. He could lie to make her feel better, if only for a little while, but what good would that do in the long run? Would burying their heads in the sand make the inevitable somehow go away?
“I have a feeling that things will never go back to normal. I think that somehow, we have to find a way to live in this new world,” Will said.
He couldn’t bear her pained expression and looked away. She wasn’t built for this. He could see that. Who was? She needed hope. So did Cayden who was seated on the sofa, hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Will wanted to know what was running through his son’s mind. He’d let him down—again. Instead of safely riding this out at the lake house, he’d got his son into this nightmare and now they were in a fight for survival.
“I do think things will get better. We’ll find a way to make it better. Right now, though, we have to survive. We need food to do that, and this is the only way to eat right now.”
Isabella stared at Cayden for a moment. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair. Tears glistened in her eyes and Will was afraid she was about to fall apart again. He couldn’t handle that.
“I know,” Isabella said, standing. “I’m going to go get dressed. I’ll push the shopping cart.”
Cayden stood and turned to Will. “Can I come? I kinda don’t want to stay here by myself.”
Will chewed on his bottom lip. He didn’t want to take Cayden. It was too dangerous, but Isabella’s spat with Kevin had driven the bandmates downstairs and Will didn’t know them well enough to knock on the door and ask them to watch his kid. Besides, they were all likely passed out cold after last night.
“I guess I don’t have a choice,” Will said.
Cayden pumped his fist up and down and ran down the hall to the bedroom.
“He’s never been that excited to go to the grocery with me before,” Will laughed.
“The EMP changed a lot of things. Looks like your relationship with Cayden is one of them,” Isabella said.
That wasn’t true. What did she know? She was virtually a stranger to them. Isabella had no idea what their relationship had been before all this. Will wanted to ask about her relationship with Kevin, but he refrained. That was a little too personal. He’d learned more about them during their fight than he’d ever cared to know. They’d said horrible things to one another. Kevin had called her poor white trash and said she’d never be anything more. She’d called him lazy and self-absorbed. Will thought the comment about how bad he was in bed had been a low blow. The man seemed to have a very fragile ego.
Will was grateful that he and Melanie had never fought like that. Melanie was direct and never spiteful when they argued. She’d say what was on her mind, let Will know where he’d screwed up, and how to fix it. He’d apologize for being an insensitive idiot and vow to do better. The makeup sex had made the whole thing worth it—God, how he missed her.
It must have shown on his face because Isabella was staring at him. “He’s really proud of you, you know. He told me so.”
“Proud? Of what? Looting? Killing?” Will asked. He’d done nothing that he was proud of.
“How brave you’ve been and how determined to make sure he survives this,” Isabella said.
Was it brave for a father to protect their kid? He’d done what any parent would have done. That didn’t make him a hero.
“I don’t know if I ever thanked you—for pulling me from my car and saving my life several times.”
“You did,” Will said. He glanced at her and then turned away. “We looked out for each other. You had my back out there too.”
Isabella walked over to the sink and stared out the window. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“About what?” Will asked.
“All of it. The accident and almost being burned alive, the carjacking, that poor girl with the mental issues that attacked me—all the killing.” Isabella turned to face him. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Every time I close my eyes, I see them staring back at me. I can still feel the blood on my hands. I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed, but it’s still there in my mind.”
Will took two steps toward her. He understood. He knew about the flashbacks. He had them too. When he was awake, he busied his mind thinking of ways to survive, but when he tried to sleep, the faces he saw were of those innocent college kids that had been so senselessly murdered. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He should have done more to protect them. He’d known that dangerous men were after them. They’d put them in the middle of their war, and now the kids were dead.
“I hear that young girl in the bar crying after her brother…”
“I know, Isabella. It’s really hard, but we need to stay focused on today and what we need to do to survive. Dwelling on it won’t make it any easier.”
Will took a seat on a stool at the small island. He wasn’t the one to give her advice about how to deal with trauma. He obviously sucked at it himself. He knew he was screwed in the head. There was nothing he could do about it.
“I think about Fahima the most,” Isabella said in almost a whisper.
That surprised Will. They’d left her alive and well back in the mechanical room.
“I hate not knowing,” she said.
“Not knowing?”
“What happened to her? If she made it? How she’s doing now if she did?”
Will hadn’t realized they’d bonded so much in the short time they’d been with the woman. But obviously, she’d made quite an impact on Isabella.
“She’ll be fine,” Will said.
“How do you know? You can’t know that.”
“We left the door to the upper floors open. If the water rose too much, she would be able to get high enough to avoid it.”
“How will she eat and find clean water?”
“Fahima is a survivor. She’s survived situations that would break us. Fahima knows how to take care of herself out there on the streets.”
“But she likely relied on one of the shelters for food,” Isabella said.
“There’s food in the apartments. She’s likely doing the same thing we are,” Will said.
Isabella was quiet for a long moment.
Will stood and pushed in the stool. He didn’t want to think about Fahima. He knew her chance of surviving this was not good. Isabella was right. Without food supplies from charitable organizations, Fahima would be fighting the hordes of evacuees for what meager supplies weren’t ruined in the flooding downtown.
“Fahima is probably tougher than we are. She’s been through a lot. We’ve been through a lot,” Will said.
“I’m ready,” Cayden said as he appeared in the living room.
“I need to get dressed and grab my flashlight. I’ll meet you downstairs,” Isabella said.
Will and Cayden waited at the bottom of the steps for Isabella and Kevin to join them. The trash bags Will had taped around Cayden’s legs came up to his groin. They’d double bagged to make sure nothing seeped through. Will shined the flashlight into the murky water, looking for any sign of the alligator that had nearly taken Kevin’s leg off the day before. He removed his knife and handed it to Cayden.
“Here, put this on,” Will said, strapping the Velcro of the sheath through Cayden’s belt loop. “Can you reach the snap?”
Cayden unsnapped the sheath and retrieved the fixed blade knife. He smiled. “I’m good.”
Will didn’t like taking him. He didn’t like it one bit. “Keep your eyes open for gators and snakes.”
Cayden nodded and placed the knife back into its sheath.
The door above opened, and Isabella descended the stairs. Her hair was wet and pulled back into a ponytail. Gone were the dark circles under her eyes from crying. It was the pink lipstick that threw him. He watched her descend the stairs. The trash bags on her legs made a swishing noise as she walked. Will smiled, and she smiled back. She wore a pink backpack and carried two canvas tote bags. When she reached the bottom step, she handed one of the tote bags to Cayden.
“Have you seen Gus and Jaz yet?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Will said.
He’d barely said it when the door to their apartment opened, and out they stepped. Jaz was dressed in pajamas and fuzzy slippers. It was clear she wasn’t going. Gus was dressed in fishing waders and long sleeves. This time, he was prepared for wading through the murky water. As Jaz helped Gus with the straps to his pack, the couple from the dead man’s apartment came to the door.
“You guys heading out again?” the guy said.
“They are. I’m staying,” Jaz said.
“We’re going to check out the grocery store,” Gus said. “You want to come?”
The couple looked at one another. The guy shrugged. “Not really. It sounds dangerous.”
“Suit yourselves,” Gus said, turning his back on them.
In one way, Will was relieved. On the other, he didn’t like that they weren’t expected to pull their weight, but in the end, it wasn’t his call. He wasn’t the one that would be sharing resources with a couple of deadbeats.
“All righty. Let’s get going,” Isabella said, stepping into the water. Her tone conveyed she found it irritating too.
“Wait, where’s Kevin,” Cayden asked.
Everyone stared at Isabella. “He’s sleeping.”
“Well, let’s go wake his little ass up,” Jaz said, turning to head up the flight of stairs leading to the third-floor apartments.
“He’s not up there,” Isabella said.
“Where is he?” Jaz asked.
Isabella shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. We had a fight. He walked out. I assumed he’d joined the band in the vacant apartment.”