by Payne, T. L.
Jaz’s gaze went from Gus to the two men. The second man, short and rounder than the first, held his hand out in front of him with his palm out. “Stop. We just want to talk. We’re with the Cajun navy.”
Will was very familiar with the Cajun navy. He’d seen them helping evacuate people from flooding many times. The Cajun navy were volunteers who helped rescue people after major disasters. They’d likely come to south Texas to help people following the hurricane. Many would have found themselves stranded after the EMP and in need of assistance themselves.
Jaz grabbed up the children with both arms and yelled at the men. “Stop right there.”
The two men froze in place.
“I’m sorry to scare the kids. We saw you have a working truck and were wondering…”
“No!” Jaz said.
“We came over from Lake Charles before the hurricane to help rescue people. We got stranded. We just wanted to see if we could catch a ride out of town. It’s getting pretty dicey around here,” the first man said.
“We don’t have room,” Jaz said.
“We could ride in the back. We’ll be no trouble,” the bearded man said.
“She said no,” Gus said as he approached Jaz. He took the older child from Jaz, placed her on the ground, and then stepped in front of her.
Will slowly exited, wanting to steer any potential trouble away from his son and Isabella. He studied the men as he did, looking for weapons of any type. None were visible from the front, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have pistols stuffed behind their backs.
“Gus, Jaz, just get in the truck,” Will said, pulling his empty rifle from the pickup’s footwell.
He didn’t point it at the men, but he didn’t have to. As soon as they saw him approach with it, they immediately started backing away.
“Just drop that rifle on the ground and back away,” Will heard someone call out behind him.
Jaz spun. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. Will knew he likely had a weapon pointed at his back and had better comply, so he slowly lowered the AR-15 to the ground. Before he could straighten, the man in camo pants whipped a pistol from his waistband and fired. Will dove toward the front of the truck as Gus and Jaz scrambled to find cover behind a nearby sedan.
The firing continued for only a few more seconds before whoever had approached Will from behind had fled. The two men ran over and helped Jaz and Gus to their feet. The little girl had scraped her knee on the pavement as they fell and was crying. The baby was wailing loudly. The man scooped the girl up while the second man pulled a medical kit from a backpack.
He held the spray can over her knee. “It’s okay. It’s just a little cold, but it will stop the pain,” the man said as he sprayed antiseptic onto her scrape.
“Thanks,” Jaz said, taking a Band-Aid from the man.
“They would’ve taken your truck. You can’t stop around here,” the shorter man said.
“We found these kids in the middle of the road,” Jaz said.
“Been lots of orphans running around the last few days,” the man said.
“I’m not sure how we’d go about finding their parents,” Isabella said.
“Doubt you can. The Catholic church is taking in orphans. You can drop them off there. People know to look for missing family members there,” Camo pants guy said.
Jaz glanced up at Gus. “It’s the best thing for them, Jaz. It’s the only hope there is for them to be reunited with their parents.”
Her gaze bounced from Gus to the children. Will couldn’t imagine why their parents had abandoned them, but Gus was right. It was their only hope of being reunited with family.
“All right, I guess.” She shifted the baby to her other hip and stared down the street. “Where’s the church?”
Will wasn’t all that comfortable with the two men riding in the truck’s bed. They had saved his life and likely saved them from having the truck stolen, but could they really trust them? The whole incident only made Will more determined to find either ammunition for his AR-15 or some other weapon. It was just too dangerous without one.
Camo guy tapped on the truck’s back glass. “There. Turn here. We should go the rest of the way on foot.”
Gus pulled the truck into a high school parking lot and shut off the engine.
“We’ll be back in five minutes,” Gus said. He glared at the two men in the back as he pocketed the keys.
“Be safe,” Isabella called after them.
Will stepped out of the truck and scanned the surrounding area. It was devoid of the cars that on a normal school day would have filled the parking lot. He thought of all the young lives that had suddenly been thrust into life and death situations like the ones they’d faced over the last week. Will was ready to put all that behind him and settle into life at Savanah’s. He wasn’t naïve. He knew it wouldn’t be easy there either, but at least they wouldn’t have people putting guns in their faces every day.
“Cayden, stay in the truck. I’m going to step over there and check out the side of the building and make sure no one is lurking about,” Will said, pointing to the front of the school.
“We’ll check out the other side,” the camo guy said. “Tanner, you keep an eye on the road.”
“You sure you want to split up, Monte?” Tanner asked.
Monte laughed. “You scared?”
There was a familiarity about the men. They reminded Will of his uncles and cousins. He still wasn’t ready to let his guard down with them, but they seemed like they knew what they were doing.
“I’m not scared. I thought you might be,” Tanner said as he turned his back on them to eye the road.
Will glanced back and forth between the truck and the east side of the block building. He wasn’t sure what he could do if he found anyone loitering about, but he didn’t want any more surprises.
Debris was piled two feet high around the building. The floodwater had shoved a car up against the air-conditioning units. Will’s boots stuck in the six-inches of muck covering the parking lot. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the stagnant water smell. Would breathing the air cause them long-term health issues? If so, what would life be like without quality healthcare? Short, he decided.
A thought dawned on him. Did school libraries have physical books these days? Would they have any medical books? He doubted it but if they found any, they’d be valuable to have as they might be able to tell them what pills were in the prescription bottles they’d taken from the pharmacy.
The east side of the building was clear. No one lurked in the shadows or around the entrance, so Will slowly and carefully made his way back across the muddy parking lot toward the truck. Tanner stood near the road, scanning right and then left. Monte was nowhere to be seen.
“I hope Gus and Jaz aren’t gone long. This place looks sketchy.”
Will wasn’t sure what Isabella was referring to; with all the destruction and debris, everywhere looked sketchy to him.
“This area wasn’t the greatest before the storm,” she said.
“They shouldn’t be very long. I’m sure Gus wants to get on the road to his mother-in-law’s.”
Suddenly, Will heard yelling, and a moment later, Monte came running across the parking lot. He slid twice and righted himself, looking over his shoulder as he did. Will stepped away from the truck to see what had him spooked. Monte reached the truck just as a group of teenage girls ran from the side of the building, each with a baseball bat in their hands. They were yelling something at him in Spanish.
“We’ve got to go,” Monte said, running around to the driver’s side of the pickup.
“No. We’re not leaving Gus and Jaz,” Will said. “What the hell are they so mad about."
“I don’t know. I don’t speak Spanish,” Monte said.
“They’re calling him a pervert,” Isabella said.
The girls all appeared to be under the age of fourteen. Why were they out on the streets all alone? Didn’t they understand how dan
gerous it was now?
“They got tent city set up in the quad,” Monte said. They got a shit ton of canned food stacked up back there. I bet they took it from the cafeteria or something,” Monte said.
The girls kept coming, shouting, and waving the bats.
“Isabella, can you tell them we aren’t here to take anything from them? We’re just waiting for friends?” Will asked.
Isabella opened the truck door and poked her head out. She spoke to the girls, calmly at first, and then she stepped out of the vehicle flailing her arms and speaking fast. Will wished he understood what she was saying. He wasn’t sure what he should do. He didn’t want to have to defend himself against teenage girls.
Tanner suddenly appeared at his side. “They’ve attracted attention,” he said, pointing toward the road.
Four
Savanah
Day Seven
Jason looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. Likely because he hadn’t. Savanah hadn’t either. Dark circles ringed his dark brown eyes, he needed a shave, and he wore the same rumpled, unwashed clothes he’d worn the day before. He wiped the perspiration from his brow with the bandana he kept in the back pocket of his jeans. His muscular arms glistened with sweat in the early morning sun. It was sure to be another scorching hot south Louisiana day.
From her window over the kitchen sink, she watched as he laid rifle parts out on the picnic table and set about cleaning them in preparation for what might be a battle between their group and Jason’s family members. He had to be torn up inside. The men they’d be going up against were his brother and cousin, after all. Savanah poured Jason a mug of coffee, slid on a pair of bedroom slippers, and headed outside.
“Thanks,” he said as she placed the mug beside him on the picnic table. “I can’t believe how dirty these rifles are.”
She didn’t want to make small talk or beat around the bush. Not with Jason. She needed him to know that she didn’t expect him to go to war with his family. “You don’t have to do this, you know. This isn’t your fight.”
His head shot up. His gaze bored into her. She saw his jaw twitch and realized what she’d said had done the opposite of what she’d intended.
Jason got to his feet. “You want me to go?”
Her eyes grew wide and she moved back a step. “No! Not at all. I just don’t want you to feel like I expect you to go to war with your brother.”
His shoulders relaxed. The deep grooves in his forehead flattened. He looked past her toward the house. An awkward silence fell between them as Savanah waited for him to respond. He swallowed hard and turned to her. “I’m not going to let anything happen to those four kids.”
Tears stung Savanah’s eyes. Their father couldn’t care less about them, yet Jason was willing to take on his own family to keep them safe. She’d felt so alone all these years while taking on the role of both parents. Not having family she was close to nearby made it even harder. She’d almost convinced herself that she didn’t need anyone’s help and she’d been doing pretty well before all this. But she was in over her head now, and she knew it. It terrified her. She’d hated feeling so helpless.
“I appreciate that so much. I can’t even put it into words. I’m sorry that I said it wasn’t your fight. I didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t care about the kids. I know you do. I see it in the way you’ve taken Karson under your wing and taught him all the things he needs to know to become a man—something his father should be doing—and in the patient way you handle Kylie’s temper tantrums. I’ve noticed, and I’m sorry that I haven’t always let you know how grateful I am.”
Jason slowly lowered himself back onto his chair, picked up a rifle barrel and a white cloth, and continued to clean the weapon. “They're good kids. They deserve to grow up and have a great life.”
Savanah looked away as tears spilled onto her cheeks. The relief in knowing she wasn’t alone, that she had someone willing to step up and help her protect her children was overwhelming beyond words. It gave her hope that they might have a chance of making a life worth living for them.
“I’m going to gather the eggs. You want to wash up and give me a hand with breakfast?” she said.
“I should finish this first. Wouldn’t be good to have gun parts lying all about if those hogs of yours decide to come tearing through here again.”
Savanah wondered if it might be time to make sausage and bacon out of the adventurous animals. No matter what she tried, they still found ways to escape their pen. “All right. It’ll be ready in about an hour. If you aren’t finished by then, I’ll set you a plate on the back of the stove.”
Jason smiled. “I’ll be finished.”
Savanah walked past the solar panels her grandfather had set up several years before to operate the water pump and a few lights. She’d installed a larger array out in the back to power a small refrigerator and water heater. She was grateful for them. They were much better off than most. She was acutely aware of that fact as she lowered the door to the hens’ nest boxes and gathered a dozen eggs. When winter approached and the days grew shorter, the hens would lay fewer eggs, and the fresh produce from the garden would be gone. She’d need to put in a winter garden in the greenhouse, or they’d be restricted solely to the food she’d canned or dehydrated.
“Mom!” her four-year-old called from the house. His tone said something was wrong.
She picked up the egg basket and quickly rounded the chicken coop. “What, Keegan? What’s the matter?”
“Someone’s coming across the back pasture.”
Jason came into view. He picked up a barefoot Keegan and ran with him toward the house. Savanah dropped the basket of eggs and ran after them, cursing herself for not carrying her rifle and wearing only her slippers. Before she even reached the driveway separating the house from the barn, Jason had run inside and retrieved her rifle. He handed it to her as she reached his position at the back corner of the house.
“Halt right there,” Jason shouted.
The man stopped in his tracks. His hands flew into the air. Around his neck hung a rifle on a two-point sling.
“What do you want?” Jason asked.
“I’m your neighbor. My family’s property abuts your southern border.”
“That’s not Mr. Herbert, Jason. Herbert is seventy years old.”
“What’s your name?” Jason asked, stepping one foot toward the man.
“Blake Richards, Frank Herbert is my father-in-law. We came to stay with him till this mess passes.”
“Does Mr. Herbert even have a daughter?” Jason whispered.
“Two. They live up north somewhere though.”
“What’s their names?”
Savanah thought for a moment. She’d only ever heard them called by their rank of oldest or youngest.
“Renae and Misty,” Kendra said as she crept up behind them.
Savanah spun on her heel and jabbed a finger toward the door. “Get your butt back inside. You’re supposed to be protecting your siblings.”
Kendra’s eyes grew wide as if Savanah had slapped her. “What’s going on?”
Savanah wasn’t usually so curt with her children, but the stranger in their field had her troubled. “I’m sorry,” Savanah said softly. “Please go inside and make sure your brothers and sister don’t come out.”
“Why? What’s wrong.”
“There’s a stranger in the pasture,” Jason said.
“Should I get my rifle?” Kendra said, turning toward the door.
“No!” Savanah snapped. “Get your pistol. Put your holster on and keep it concealed from the others. I don’t want to scare them.”
“Okay. But if you need me to—”
Savanah cut her off. “We won’t. We just need to see what he wants. He probably wants to trade for some eggs or something.” Savanah didn’t want to worry Kendra needlessly. If the man hadn’t come alone, she might have had her daughter move the other children to the safe room, but she’d wait and see what he wanted before
upsetting the entire household.
Savanah turned her attention back to the man. “What’s your wife’s name?” she asked him.
“Melissa. She’s the Herberts’ oldest,” the stranger said without hesitation.
“Misty could be a nickname for Melissa. He might be telling the truth.”
“What do you want?” Jason asked.
“I heard you were having issues with the folks from Sugar Hill,” he said.
The gossip train was still running, even without telephones.
“What about it?” Savanah asked.
“I was hoping we could help each other,” the man said. “I’m Blake. I’m a police officer in Cincinnati.”
“What does he plan to do, go arrest them?” Savanah whispered.
“If he’s telling the truth, at least he’s had training and experience dealing with criminals. He might be able to tell us how to defuse this situation without bloodshed.”
Savanah knew that was Jason’s hope, but they’d need an entire police force to handle the Blanchards. With them firmly entrenched in town and others branching out to take additional territory, it might take the National Guard to weed them out. Savanah couldn’t see a successful scenario where the Blanchards survived. She doubted seriously they’d allow themselves to be taken alive.
“How about you place that rifle on the ground and slowly move this way, and we’ll talk,” Jason said. He glanced back over his shoulder. “We should hear him out, at least.”
Mrs. Bertrand brought a pot of coffee to the seating area beneath the old oak tree where Savanah used to have tea parties with her grandmother. Savanah’s grandfather had built the house before her father was born and had been proud of his craftsmanship.
After their mother died, and their father became a drunk—and worse—it was their grandparents that had raised her and Will. They’d done their best to teach them how to farm and live off the land and involved them in all their activities around the homestead so that someday, they could take it over. After their grandmother died and their grandfather’s health declined, the house and barn’s condition had deteriorated. The white clapboard siding needed a fresh coat of paint, and several pieces of the wood trim surrounding the six-over-six windows had rotted. Jason had helped her replace the shingles two winters ago. There were so many memories in this place. She prayed they weren’t forced to leave it.