by E S Richards
It was beginning to look like the two arrivals would be able to fix the truck all by themselves until a loud curse word echoed out from underneath the Fargo’s hood.
“What is it, Dad?”
“We don’t have a torque wrench. I can’t fix this without one.”
There was silence between the boy and his father for several seconds, the reality of what his father had said sinking in to his son. Len looked across at Harrison, the older prepper finally starting to formulate a plan in his head. From watching the parent and child, Harrison had decided that they didn’t seem like dangerous people and he could tell Len felt the same way. He imagined Len was seeing a lot of his own son in the teenage boy and would be unwilling to do anything to harm or disadvantage them. With that in mind, Harrison reached into his rucksack beside him, pulled out his torque wrench and stepped out of their hiding place.
The father immediately grabbed his rifle the second he noticed Harrison walking towards the Dodge, Len now also standing up but remaining stationary amongst the trees. Harrison raised his hands above his head as the man pointed the rifle at him, indicating that he carried a torque wrench with him and was not intending to use it as a weapon.
“What are you doing here?” The father called over as Harrison continued to walk closer. “What do you want?”
“The same thing as you,” Harrison replied, trying his best to put a smile on his face and appear friendly. It was still difficult for him after the many years he had spent alone in his bunker, but traveling with Len had definitely already changed him more than he ever thought possible. “And I have a wrench—I think you might need it?”
The father narrowed his eyes as he looked at Harrison, unable to deny that the wrench was desperately needed but also reluctant to trust a man who had just wandered out from the shadows.
“Have you been watching us?”
“Yes,” Harrison nodded, “but not for long. I wanted to see if I could fix this old Dodge myself.”
“I think she’s definitely salvageable,” the father replied after a brief pause, “especially since you’ve got that torque.”
“Where are you traveling to?” Harrison asked, turning his head slightly to look back at Len. “We’re making our way towards South Haven, and then onto Canada.”
At the mention of him, Len started walking forward, offering a half-wave to the father and son who still stood beside the Dodge, the rifle now pointed down in the man’s hands.
“Anywhere that’s safe,” the man eventually replied after watching Len’s approach. “Our town has been completely destroyed; two planes went down and their fuel tanks have leaked into the water system. Nothing is safe to eat or drink around there anymore, it’s all deadly.”
“Airplane fuel, eh?” Harrison nodded slightly, thinking back to the people they had seen in Union Pier. “That would make sense. We passed through a town not long ago where the people were getting sick, guessed it had something to do with a contaminated water source.”
“Yeah,” the man confirmed Harrison’s theory, “that’ll be it. I’m Justin by the way, and this is my son, Max.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Harrison and this is Len. We’ve been traveling from Chicago for several days now.”
“Chicago?” Justin sounded surprised they’d made it such a distance already. “I’m impressed. Pretty long walk.”
“Yeah,” Harrison nodded, “would be a lot easier with a truck.”
“Definitely,” Justin smiled. “Let me show you what I think is wrong with her.”
Len hung back slightly as Harrison followed Justin to look underneath the hood of the truck, the teenage boy, Max, staying close to his father’s side. Car mechanics were another area where Len knew he was pretty useless, so he simply hung around while Harrison and Justin got to work. He felt hopeful as the two of them worked, glad it had been a father and son duo that had traveled out to the car. It was a nice change to meet some decent people on their journey; it felt like since he had left Chicago everyone was getting worse and worse.
Justin and Max definitely seemed like good people and being around a young boy only made Len more determined to reach his own son. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Max climb back up into the cab of the truck and place his hand on the keys, ready to turn them in the Fargo’s ignition. Only about twenty minutes had passed since Harrison and Justin started working together on the engine, and Len couldn’t believe they had managed to fix it already. But as the teenage boy turned the metal key and the engine roared to life Len witnessed something that he thought he would have to wait months or even years to experience again. The truck was running and they would be able to use it. Suddenly he had become so much closer to South Haven and so much closer to his son.
Chapter 11
Amy awoke with a start, her eyes snapping open and her arms flailing backwards in an attempt to support her body. It took three long seconds for her brain to remind her what had happened yesterday and exactly where she was. When it did, Amy’s heartbeat began to slow and she glanced down to her side, seeing her son sleeping peacefully beside her.
Leaning down, Amy brushed the hair from his forehead and planted a soft kiss on his skin. After everything they had been through, she couldn’t believe that he was sleeping soundly beside her, a thick, duck feather duvet wrapped around his tiny body.
Walking into the Dunes Resort almost felt like it had been a dream, and as Amy silently slid out of the large double bed and padded barefoot into the kitchen she constantly had to rub her eyes to convince herself that it was real. The resort was huge, stretching across several acres and housing countless lodges like the one Amy, James, and Giles had slept in last night. Giles had also told them there was a spa within the resort, several bars and restaurants, two gyms, and many other rooms and buildings used for entertainment. Apparently it had been a very popular tourist spot before everything happened.
Grabbing a packet of oatmeal from a cupboard and a bottle of water from the countertop Amy moved towards the dining room table, which overlooked the resort, the river in the distance meandering lazily through the grass. She found a bowl in a china cabinet that looked to be more for display rather than proper use, but she brought that and a silver spoon along with her and fashioned herself the closest thing to a proper breakfast she’d had in almost a week.
Thoughts started to creep into her head as she ate about staying within the resort long-term. It seemed to be the safest place they had come across so far and she couldn’t predict whether continuing to Ellen and Maria’s lake house farther up the coast was still the best idea. Amy forced herself to entertain the idea that they could reach the lake house and find it abandoned, neither of her friends inside or able to get home when everything happened. That wasn’t even the worst thing she could imagine, remembering the state of the country club as it crumbled to the ground in flames and the wreckage of cars that had exploded along the highway in South Haven. In reality, Amy couldn’t even predict if the lake house would still be there at all.
“Morning,” Giles’s soft voice interrupted her morbid thoughts as he too walked into the kitchen from the second bedroom. “How did you sleep?”
“Good morning,” Amy replied with a smile as she turned in her chair to face Giles. “Better than I have in ages, you?”
“Not great,” Giles grimaced, “I was up half the night being sick. Really don’t feel great still if I’m honest.”
Amy paused and looked at Giles for a second longer. Now she thought about it, he did seem much paler than usual, the bags under his eyes were darker and his skin had a strange, sweaty glisten to it. Immediately Amy thought of the lake water and stifled a small gasp as she realized that was probably what had caused him to get sick. She was so grateful she’d avoided it but felt deep sympathy for Giles, hoping he would return to normal quickly.
“Oh Giles,” she lifted a hand to cover her mouth, “I hope you’re okay.”
“I’ll survive,” Giles said unenthusiastically, �
�maybe some food will help. What’ve you got there?”
Amy held up her bowl to show Giles the contents and he made himself an identical meal and started walking to join her. He looked very relaxed in his borrowed pajama bottoms and white T-shirt, clearly taken from the closet in the room where he’d stayed. If it wasn’t for his sickly appearance he would have seemed almost right at home. Amy herself was in a similar state of undress, the allure of clean clothes the night before too tempting for her to be bothered by what she had put on.
“James not awake yet?”
“Not yet,” Amy shook her head and dug her spoon back into the bowl of oats, chewing enthusiastically as Giles did the same beside her. “I want to let him sleep as long as possible,” she continued, “it’s been a long time since he’s had a real night’s sleep.”
“Of course,” Giles smiled back at Amy between mouthfuls. “Poor boy has been through a lot.”
Amy didn’t say anything in response but gazed out across the resort instead. James really had experienced too much for an eight-year-old boy and Amy couldn’t help but feel responsible. She knew she had done the best she could considering the circumstances, but then dreadful thoughts crept into her head and taunted her with the possibility that she hadn’t.
She still hadn’t forgiven herself for leaving the front door to their house in South Haven unlocked and falling asleep on the couch. That was unacceptable for a mother to do on a normal day, let alone when her town was being blown to pieces just a few miles away. Amy knew it was something she would be beating herself up over for many years to come. Her body involuntarily shuddered as she remembered Zephyr creeping around her house and the man with him that he had stabbed. Amy would never forget the sight of that man’s life leaving his eyes and his body sagging over onto her carpeted floor.
Out of the corner of her eye Amy saw Giles glance at her as she trembled at the memories that were now a constant reminder of South Haven. After everything was over and the world returned to normal, Amy doubted whether she would ever be able to return there. Honestly, she doubted whether she would ever feel comfortable again, now all too aware of how the world could change at the flick of a switch.
“We’re safe here,” Giles’s voice spoke softly beside her, the young man looking across at Amy with sympathetic eyes. “Try to give yourself a day without worry.”
Amy looked over at Giles and saw the kindness seeping out of his eyes. It was obvious to her that he was a genuinely good person and she felt so lucky to have been able to travel with him for part of their journey.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Amy suddenly blurted out, the words escaping her mouth before she’d really had time to process them. Giles looked at her strangely, trying to determine who Amy was referring to.
“Mel, I mean. Do you think we did the right thing in leaving her behind?”
Giles froze. Ever since they’d left his country club behind he had battled with the decision of whether to tell Amy what Mel had done and if so, how. Now it appeared he didn’t have a choice. He wouldn’t lie to Amy and he certainly wouldn’t disrespect the dead.
“Amy,” Giles started, pushing his half-eaten bowl of oats away from him across the table. “Mel…” he trailed off, unable to find the words. Amy could tell something was wrong and so mirrored his actions with her bowl of food and turned slightly in her chair to face Giles, placing a hand on his outstretched arm.
“Mel is dead.”
Now it was Amy’s turn to freeze in her seat, her entire body going stiff as she yanked her hand away from Giles, frightened to touch him all of a sudden. She couldn’t believe what he had just told her. Mel had been in a terrible place when they’d left the country club, mourning, on the brink of insanity for her lost child, but she had definitely been alive.
“She killed herself.”
Amy snapped her eyes closed at Giles’s words, unable to process what he was saying. Why would Mel have taken her own life? There was still hope for her, still a chance of survival. But… Amy tried to imagine how she would feel if she had lost James, if he had been the one to die in the collapse of the country club. Amy’s stomach clenched as she thought of it, physical pain erupting inside of her. James was the one thing keeping her going, the one thing getting her out of bed every morning and pushing her to keep moving. If it had been Amy who had lost that motivation, that immoveable sensation of love and purpose, would she have been able to continue? Letting her eyes drift slowly open she slowly began to understand what Mel had done.
“How?”
Giles paused for a second, letting Amy return to a slightly more relaxed state before he replied. “She had a knife. I, I didn’t know about it. But once you’d left with James and I was trying to convince her to come with us she just completely broke down.” Catching his breath, Giles felt a tear roll down his cheek at the memory, the sight of Mel slicing her throat carved into his mind forever. “I tried to save her,” he continued, “I tried to stop the bleeding, but the cut was too deep.” An involuntary hand went to his neck as he spoke, running his fingers along it as he felt for a cut that wasn’t there. “I held her as she died.”
Amy stared blankly at Giles, the man cupping his own throat with one hand while soft, silent tears fell from his eyes and wet his cheeks. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Giles to experience that, especially after what he had just been through with dragging Lisa out of the wreckage. That country club had been his home and the people inside it his family; the poor man had to be suffering more than Amy had ever realized.
Edging forward on her chair, Amy reached out and closed her arms around Giles’s body, wrapping the man in a hug. She could feel him quivering slightly in her arms and realized that by keeping the truth to himself, Giles hadn’t yet been given a chance to grieve. In this new and dangerous world, luxuries like that were easily forgotten, but now they had found the relative safety of Dunes Resort, Amy refused to deny the man this comfort.
“Mom?”
Forcing herself to pull away from Giles, Amy turned to see her son in the doorway. He regarded the two adults with a confused expression on his face, not moving forward to approach them but wringing his hands together in front of him instead.
“Good morning, darling,” Amy looked back at Giles with a supportive and apologetic smile before climbing out of her chair and walking towards her son. “Did you get a good night’s rest?”
James nodded, wrapping his arms around Amy’s legs as she moved close enough to him and burying his face in her stomach. Amy could feel his small hands gripping the fabric of the men’s pajama bottoms that she wore, James himself dressed in adult boxer shorts and an oversized white undershirt that hung down almost to his knees. He looked awful, but Amy was relieved at least to see him properly rested and without dark bags under his eyes.
“Do you want some breakfast?”
Taking James’s hand, Amy led him into the kitchen and pulled out yet another packet of oatmeal and a bottle of water. It wasn’t a particularly delicious breakfast—the oats were better mixed with milk or at the very least warmed water—but it was still food and it would provide them all with proper nutrients they had been severely lacking for a while.
Giles had almost finished with his breakfast by the time Amy returned to the table with James by her side, placing her son in her seat and moving her empty bowl back to the kitchen. She watched James slowly drag his spoon around the bowl of oats before eventually scooping up a mouthful and chewing. Even if it didn’t taste nice, James knew he had to eat and he shoveled through the bowl with determination.
“Are we staying here?” James finally spoke again once his breakfast was finished, not addressing his question to anyone in particular as Amy returned to the table to take the seat on the other side of him, sandwiching her son between herself and Giles.
Looking over at her adult counterpart, Amy paused for a moment. It was an idea she had already considered that morning, but she hadn’t really thought about what Giles w
ould want to do. His parents were still waiting for him in Grand Rapids and Amy was sure he would want to reach them, especially after what she had learned he’d experienced with Mel at the country club. When James was next out of earshot she would speak to him further about it, but Amy knew that now wasn’t the time.
“Maybe for a little while,” Amy slowly replied, locking eyes with Giles for confirmation. Although she knew they could go their separate ways, she now wanted to stay by his side for a while longer; whether that was for her own sake or his, she wasn’t completely sure.
“Yeah,” Giles nodded, “it makes sense to rest up here for a day or two. We can gather supplies from the other lodges and then we’ll be more prepared for the rest of our journey.”
“But not forever?”
“No James,” Amy reached across and stroked her son’s hair, pulling at his tiny curls that had become knotted together. “We have to—”