by E S Richards
Thinking of life in the bigger cities, Amy’s train of thought quickly moved onto her ex-husband and she winced at how she imagined Len would be dealing with everything. She could almost picture him now, locked away in his house slowly eating through his limited food supply. Would he journey out towards the lake in search of a water source? Would that water even still be drinkable? The strange, glistening sheen she’d noticed on the lake water several days ago was still a constant worry for Amy. They’d packed as much bottled water as they could physically carry and were drinking it very sparingly, but eventually they would run out. What would happen then?
The millions of questions tore through Amy’s head like a train, leaving a blaring horn of impossible answers. She had to believe that aid would come to the country eventually, but she knew it could be months before it reached the less populated areas. Cities like Chicago, New York, and Washington would receive help first. It did, at least, leave her feeling a little more confident about Len’s chances, but she knew deep down he wasn’t a resourceful man. Sooner or later she was going to have to face the reality that her ex-husband—the father of her child—was almost certainly dead.
Aside from another man in Amy’s early twenties, Len was the only man she’d ever really loved. As a teenager she thought she’d experienced it many times, and when she had her first true heartbreak at the age of twenty-four, she thought she’d never be able to love again. Then Len came into her life.
It had been a whirlwind romance from the very beginning. They’d met at a mutual friend’s birthday party, back when Len had been a sociable young man, always ready to go out for the day or stay up until dawn. Their connection was instant and more powerful than anything Amy had ever felt before. She’d been cautious at first, the ache from her last relationship still there, but as she spent more time with Len, that ache quickly faded away.
Within a year they were living together, much to the chagrin of her closest friends. They all said it wouldn’t last, that she was diving in too quickly, but Amy had been determined to prove them wrong. It was ironic that in the end they had all been right, but that didn’t nullify the many happy years that had happened in between. It almost made Amy tearful as she walked and remembered everything that had passed between them. Her son’s hand in her own kept her strong and she gritted her teeth to fight through the waiting tears.
Now that Len was no longer with them—even more so than it had been through their divorce—Amy didn’t want to think about him in that way anymore. She thought it would be easier to focus on the painful memories rather than the happy ones. If she didn’t remember Len as the man she used to love then never seeing him again would be easier. Despite repeating that to herself every time her right foot touched the ground, she couldn’t forget all the good times they’d shared together.
There was one memory Amy recalled very easily: the day Len had finished building James’s tree house. There was a picture of it up on the wall in James’s room, back in the house in South Haven which they’d been forced to leave behind. It was unlikely Amy would ever see that picture in person again but she could still remember the memory it illustrated as if it was yesterday. The three of them gathered inside drinking hot cocoa as rain fell outside. If she concentrated hard enough, Amy could swear she could smell the cocoa and the rain as it pattered against the wood above her head. It hadn’t been much, but for a few small moments she had felt safe there, her husband and son by her side. What she wouldn’t give for that feeling just one more time.
The light was quickly beginning to fade as she and James continued to walk. Neither of them said a word and even that made Amy feel like she was failing her son. It was her job to keep him happy and make him feel safe, yet she couldn’t even find the words to talk to him. Any topic she thought of seemed either too big or too small and unimportant. What was the point of talking about things from the past when they would likely never experience them again?
Trying to shake her thoughts from the darker corners of her mind, Amy focused more on their surroundings as they walked. They would have to find somewhere to spend the night very soon; as scared as she already was through the day, the night made everything ten times worse.
But where could they go? The country club had collapsed beneath their feet and the resort had ended even worse. James seemed to be managing all right with his injury, but Amy was worried he wasn’t being completely honest with her. Her son was mature beyond his years and it concerned Amy that he was simply putting on a brave face in order not to upset her even further. It was something a boy of his age should never have to do and again increased that horrible feeling inside Amy that said she was failing her son.
“We’ll find somewhere to stop for the night soon, James,” Amy squeezed her son’s hand as she spoke, grabbing his attention. “Can you keep your eyes peeled and help me look?”
“Okay.” James squeezed his mother’s hand back and nodded his head, straightening up slightly and obviously paying more attention to what was around him.
Amy could see a small wooden sign in the distance, but it looked to point off onto an even smaller path than the one they already traveled down. It was another few minutes before she could make out that it led to a nature reserve, somewhere secluded and surrounded by trees. She paused for a moment, weighing the possibilities in her head.
“Are we going down there?”
“Yes, come on.” Amy nodded after a moment. She had no idea how long it would take before they found anywhere else and nighttime was sinking in faster than it normally would that time of year. Without the billions of electric lights that normally lit up the country, it very quickly became a different place.
“Watch your step, darling!”
The path they walked down was not well kept, with branches and roots weaving their way across the ground. In the thinning light they were difficult to see and forced the two of them to slow their pace more than Amy would have liked. It was necessary though, to avoid any further injury, something Amy couldn’t bear to bring to her son.
The farther they walked the more she began to worry about what they would find at the other end. Aside from their own footsteps, she couldn’t hear anything and she couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of them. Repeatedly, Amy told herself this was a good sign. If there were people up ahead she would surely hear or see some sign of them. Surely no one would travel this far off-path to a nature reserve unless they were as desperate and in need as she was. But then she saw it.
“Quick,” Amy hissed in her son’s ear. “Get down.”
She pulled James off the small trail and up against a tree, pulling him down into a crouch as gently as she could in the moment. A tiny orange light flickered in the distance, the flame dancing in the wind.
“What is it?” James asked too noisily for Amy’s liking, causing her to quickly shush him and pull him deeper into the surrounding trees.
“Quiet, James,” she whispered in his ear as loudly as she dared. “I think there’s someone here.”
“Hello?” A man’s voice suddenly boomed out of the darkness, causing Amy to jump and sink down even further. “Hello? Is someone out here?”
Amy clasped a hand over James’s mouth, silently begging him not to make a sound. She could see the orange flame coming closer to them, illuminating a figure that held the fire aloft like a torch.
“If there’s anyone there,” the man started to speak out again, “you don’t need to be afraid. It’s safe here, you can come out.”
Amy saw her son’s face turn to look up at her, his eyes questioning as he understood what the man said. She shook her head softly from side to side. After everything that had happened, she wasn’t going to trust anyone again. They would have to find somewhere else to spend the night, even if it meant sleeping by the side of the road.
“What are you doing, Derek?” A woman’s voice came out of the darkness and Amy strained her ears to hear another set of footsteps approaching.
“I thought I heard som
eone out here,” the man replied. “They seem to have gone quiet now.”
“Well, you probably scared them off!” The woman laughed. It was a nice laugh, a friendly laugh, but still Amy didn’t trust it. “If anyone’s out there,” the woman spoke again, her voice louder now in order to reach the trees. “You really don’t need to worry—we have—oh, Dash, get back here!”
The woman’s voice changed at the end of her sentence, her concentration focused somewhere else.
“Dash!” The man’s voice boomed out again. “Dash! Come back!”
Suddenly Amy could hear more footsteps coming towards them and much, much quicker. She wrapped her arms tightly around her son and prayed the footsteps would pass, that they wouldn’t notice her and they’d pass into the night. She closed her eyes as she prayed, desperately wanting to be left alone. Then something grabbed onto the cuff of her trouser leg and she heard a low growl from behind her.
Spinning around and putting James between her body and the tree they had hidden behind, Amy kicked out with her leg and threw off whatever had latched on. She squinted into the darkness, her eyes growing wide as a black dog appeared out of nowhere, now baring its teeth and growling at the pair of them.
“Dash!” The man’s voice called out again, louder this time and definitely closer to the pair of them. A second later he appeared, reaching down and grabbing the dog by the collar, pulling it away from Amy and James.
“Aha!” he exclaimed upon seeing them. “I knew there was someone out here!”
“Derek!” The woman’s voice came again now and Amy watched her appear, holding the flame the man—Derek—had carried earlier. “Oh,” her walk slowed as she caught sight of Amy and James cowering by the tree. “Oh my, are you two all right? He didn’t frighten you, did he?”
Amy didn’t know what to say, looking in turn from the woman to Derek and the dog he still held by the collar, although the growling had ceased. Her instincts told her these people weren’t dangerous, but Amy was long past trusting her instincts after everything that had happened so far. Her words caught in her throat, unable to think of what to say to the couple in front of her.
“You poor dears,” the woman spoke again, “you must be freezing. We’ve got a place farther down the track. You’re welcome to come in, if you’d like? Rest up for the night?”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Amy finally found her words and straightened up slightly, though still shielding her son’s body. “We need to be on our way, thank you.”
“At this time of night?” The woman replied softly, shaking her head and taking a small step closer. “It may technically still be early, but you can’t be walking around when it’s as dark as this. Who knows what could happen to you?”
“We’re all right, really,” Amy argued. “We know where we’re going. It won’t take us long to get there.”
“Come now—”
The woman started to speak again, but she was cut off by yet another voice in the distance. Coming from the same direction where they’d just appeared. The cry of the voice caused a shiver to run down Amy’s spine and she froze, the rest of her argument drifting away into silence.
Chapter 6
As soon as Len opened the door, the smell of his ex-wife overwhelmed him. It was like no time had passed and she was back in his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head so he could inhale the sweet scent of the papaya shampoo she used religiously. Quietly and carefully he closed the door, enclosing himself in a room that—in the weeks after his divorce—had brought him immense pain and sadness. Now the sadness remained, but on a different level and it was paired with an emotion that strongly overpowered the rest. Hope.
Taking a few shaky steps forward, Len took measured deep breaths, in through his nose so he absorbed every shred of Amy’s scent that remained and out through his mouth to steady himself. Everywhere he looked triggered a different memory, though each one was pained with the knowledge of what had happened.
Amy’s wardrobe doors were wide open, the clothes inside scattered and unkempt, evidence that she had rifled through them in a hurry. From a glance Len couldn’t tell what was missing, but he knew Amy would have only taken the most important things. He walked toward it, his arm outstretched as his fingers brushed against the soft hanging fabrics inside. Even some of the clothes were too painful to look at. The pale blue summer dress she’d worn at his last birthday party when they’d been together. The tattered and paint stained jeans she’d had on when they redecorated the kitchen.
Pausing for a moment, Len considered what he was about to do as a very specific memory popped into his head. He had to. He couldn’t help himself. Carefully pushing aside the hangers, Len revealed the back of Amy’s wardrobe. There, hanging in a bag to preserve it from the elements was her wedding dress. A blindingly white, off-the-shoulder number, decorated with a few modest jewels to catch the light and highlight her features. Radiant. That was the only word Len had been able to use to describe his wife on that day and as images of her face flashed through his mind, it was the only word he could use now. Even after everything that had happened, after the separation, the divorce, and the move, Len couldn’t deny his feelings. He still loved Amy and he needed to see her again.
As involuntary tears started to fall, Len tore his eyes away from the wedding dress and closed the wardrobe doors. One day he would see Amy in a dress again, but there was much that needed to happen before that day would come. Wiping his eyes Len walked towards Amy’s bed and sat down on the edge of it. He almost didn’t want to sleep there; he didn’t want to overpower what was left of her with himself. But sleep was too demanding. It forced him to undress, lying back and pulling the soft, feather duvet over his body. How long had it been since he’d slept in a bed this nice? For once he couldn’t feel the cold, hard ground beneath him, nor could he hear the wind howling through the thin fabric of his tent. It was heaven, but he knew it couldn’t last. As Len’s eyes drifted shut he thought of his family, his brave son and his beautiful wife and how one day—one day soon—he would hold them both in his arms again.
***
The sound of people startled Len for a second as his eyes snapped open the next morning. It took a few seconds for him to realize where he was and when it all came back to him his eyes sank closed again, relishing the soft bedding around him, pretending for just a moment longer that it was more than just fabric.
Voices carried up the stairs towards Amy’s bedroom. Harrison’s was one of them, a voice Len would remember for the rest of his life. He could still hardly believe that the old prepper had agreed to travel towards Grand Haven with him. Harrison had already done so much and this truly made Len owe him more than his life. He wasn’t certain if Justin, Max, and Aubrey would be joining them—if he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted them too.
It was Aubrey’s fate that worried him the most if Len left her, though. He trusted Justin and Max, but he still couldn’t forget how the four of them had come to meet the young girl. In that moment Justin had been reckless, sending his son into the gas station without fully assessing the dangers that could lie within. He didn’t want a situation like that to ever happen to Aubrey, and while he was sure Justin had learned from his mistake and was dealing with it gravely in his own way, it still made him trust the man less.
But he couldn’t ask them to continue their journey. He couldn’t force that young girl back out into the world when they had found a safe place. South Haven appeared to be completely deserted. Destroyed, yes, but also deserted. As far as Len could guess that was a good thing for the three who would probably stay behind. He wanted them to be safe and if there was no one else left in the lakeside town that gave them more of a choice.
“Len?” Harrison’s voice came from the other side of the door, forcing Len to open his eyes once more and sit up in bed. “Len, are you awake?”
“Just a second!” Len called back as he pulled the duvet off his body and stood up, stretching his legs and c
racking his back as he moved. Gently he replaced the duvet, smoothing out the creases and leaving it as it had been found. It wasn’t the same, but it would do.
“Morning,” Len smiled as he opened the door to find Harrison patiently waiting at the top of the stairs. “How long have I been asleep?”
Harrison laughed. “We thought we’d let you rest up a bit longer after that little fall you had yesterday. There’s food downstairs now though if you’re hungry. And then we should get going.”
“Yes,” Len nodded eagerly, “yes definitely. Just give me a minute to get dressed and then I’ll be down.”
“Sure thing,” Harrison smiled at his friend. “There’s fresh water in the bathroom too, if you want another wash.”
“Great, thank you.”