Citizens of Logan Pond Box Set

by Rebecca Belliston

  “There you two are,” CJ called from his doorway. “Now we can start.”

  twenty-nine

  OLIVER STOPPED AND LISTENED. When all stayed quiet, he started walking again, passing the rows of carbon-copy houses designated for patrolmen. His was the fourteenth one on the left. With two windows, a bathroom, and one twin-sized bed, it was the one place on earth he could call his own. With luck, he’d get five hours of sleep before his next shift.

  He stopped again. That time he knew he’d heard something.

  Pulse leaping, he crept along the hedge. It was just past dusk, and his eyes couldn’t quite focus in the diminishing light. He’d never worried about his surroundings in the patrolmen’s quarters before. Then again, the last two weeks had been anything but tranquil.

  A third rustling, and he whipped out his gun.

  “Who’s there?” he demanded.

  Two men stepped out from behind a bush. “It’s just us, Simmons,” Jamansky said. “Park the gun.”

  Jamansky and Nielsen.

  Oliver slid his gun back in its holster, but his muscles remained tensed. Neither of his coworkers lived in this southern block. Why were they here? They stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the sidewalk home.

  As if reading his mind, Jamansky said. “We’re just here looking for some stuff.”

  “Clothes. Food,” Nielsen said. “All our stuff that went missing from that raid.”

  Jamansky leaned forward. “Any idea about that, Officer Simmons?”

  Fear pricked Oliver’s skin. He knew this moment was coming. Quite frankly, he couldn’t believe it had taken this long. He just didn’t know how it would end. Hopefully not with a bullet in his head. His coworkers had divided up the raid into two piles: one they would claim, and one they’d sell on the black market. Oliver had taken both.

  He shrugged. “Nope. Sorry.” He tried to sidestep onto the grass, but Jamansky moved to block him.

  “Are you sure about that?” Jamansky said. “I’d hate to find out you had something to do with this.”

  Oliver was near the same height as Jamansky, but less brawny. And gutsy. His heart pounded near heart-attack rate. He went for the easiest out.

  “Oh,” he said. “You mean the stuff you confiscated in that Logan Pond raid? I thought you already turned it into Chief, logged it and everything.”

  Jamansky’s glare turned deadly. “Don’t play games with us, Simmons. You’re the only one who knew where we stashed the loot. Where did you put it?”

  “It’s logged,” Oliver said weakly. “With the Chief.”

  “That’s our stuff!” Nielsen shouted.

  Oliver forced himself to shrug. He stepped onto the grass and started swiftly for home. He clenched every muscle, bracing for an attack from behind. He wanted to check over his shoulder but knew that would make him look guiltier. If they checked the log, they would know he was lying, but they had to get Chief Dario’s clearance to see the log—which, knowing how their boss would react to their black-market stash, they wouldn’t dare. He hoped. He prayed.

  He was a dead man.

  “Simmons!” Jamansky yelled.

  Oliver sped home.

  * * * * *

  Carrie spent the whole meeting gathering her thoughts, only half listening to Greg. He mentioned her name a few times in reference to the well, but other than that, she wasn’t sure what he said. She kept convincing herself to be straightforward and honest with Oliver. If she didn’t want a relationship with him—which she didn’t think she did—she needed to be clear from the beginning, or middle, or wherever they were. Maybe Oliver already knew her lack of interest and he wouldn’t let it affect anything. But if not…

  She chewed her thumbnail. Her dad’s favorite saying played over in her mind: “Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences.”

  Like people hating my guts? she wondered.

  Or being arrested?

  Shaking her head, she forced away the gloomy thoughts. None of that would happen. Oliver was a good man, and the clan would side with her. She chewed through most of her nails by the time Greg wrapped up, and then CJ motioned for her to come forward and give Oliver’s weekly report.

  She avoided looking at Greg in his usual spot, leaned against the side wall, and searched for a friendly face in the crowd. Mariah. But for some reason, Greg’s mom wasn’t there even though the meeting was at her house. Giving up, Carrie focused on the Trenton’s family portrait on the furthest wall and started.

  “If it’s alright,” Carrie said, “I’d like to say something before I give Oliver’s report. The only reason I’m telling all of you is that it could possibly affect everyone here, and you have the right to know what I’ve done. Or rather”—she took a quick breath—“what I plan to do.”

  People exchanged a few surprised glances.

  Pressing her jittery hands to her stomach, she went on. “It’s been brought to my attention that Oliver might see more in our relationship than I do. I think I need to make myself clear and tell him we’re just friends and…and nothing more.”

  The room seemed to heat up. Her neck was probably splotchy and red. So be it.

  “I think he already knows,” she said. “But I need to be upfront so he doesn’t get the wrong idea about me. Knowing Oliver, he’ll still give us weekly updates and protect our clan, but if he doesn’t, I…” She shrugged, hating herself, hating the Collapse, and hating the fact that she couldn’t make it through a day without blushing beet red. “I felt like all of you should know.”

  When her mind no longer supplied words, she sat down on the floor.

  The floodgates opened slowly and indistinguishably from where she sat up front. But things quickly picked up momentum.

  And volume.

  “Five years of peace, and now this?” Ron Marino said. “Great. Just great.”

  “What does she expect us to do?” Dylan said. “Go back to round-the-clock guard duty?”

  She tuned out the specifics and let her dad remind her it was the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences. She waited for the room to settle down, for CJ to back her up, but it was taking a long time, and CJ hadn’t moved. He watched from the front while things intensified and tempers flared. As the comments became more distinguishable, her shoulders hunched lower and lower.

  “What are we supposed to do if Oliver turns on us?” Sasha asked. “Go back to the municipality? Back to rats and starving and electric fences?”

  “Municipality?” Dylan said. “They won’t give us blue cards. Not after we’ve trespassed all these years. They’ll slam us into one of those work camps.”

  “Prison? I can’t go to prison!” Sasha cried.

  CJ, Carrie begged silently. Stand up!

  Jeff Kovach’s voice suddenly drowned out the others, only unlike the rest, he spoke directly to her. “Just who do you think you are, Carrie? Making that decision without us? You didn’t even ask our permission. You just waltzed in here and told us like we have no say?”

  She didn’t turn. Didn’t move.

  “Jeff…” Richard said tiredly. “Sit down and let CJ speak.”

  Yes. Please.

  CJ finally took the hint. He looked at Carrie, only instead of giving her a supportive smile, he gave a deep sigh. “Thank you for telling us, Carrie. We’ll support whatever decision you make.”

  “Speak for yourself, old man!” Jeff snapped. “She doesn’t have the right to dump Oliver when it could ruin everything. I demand a vote!”

  “Butt out, Jeff,” Braden said. “We don’t vote on personal stuff. It’s none of our business who Carrie dates.”

  “You want to bet!” Jeff fought back. “If Carrie dumps Oliver, he’ll turn on us. He knows our names, which homes we live in, he knows our kids! Within a day, there won’t be a single person left. Not even the Trentons.”

  Carrie couldn’t hide anymore. With shaky legs, she stood and faced him. “What would you have me do, Jeff?” she asked, even t
hough she still had several of his nauseating suggestions in memory. “If I don’t have feelings for Oliver, just what am I supposed to do?”

  “What you’re doing now,” Jeff said. “Harmless flirtations to keep him interested.”

  “For how long? How patient will he be with a relationship that never progresses?”

  Jeff folded his arms.

  “Oh,” she said, understanding more than she wanted to. “Just how far do you think I should take it? Play hard to get at first? But then, Oliver will tire of that. Then what? Anything to keep us safe, right? One service in exchange for another?” Her stomach churned at the notion, but she held strong to make Jeff see what he was suggesting.

  He didn’t even flinch. “Whatever it takes.”

  “I see,” she said, even though she didn’t. Her voice was losing strength, but she couldn’t stop. “I never thought there would come a day when I would sell myself, but if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. Right, Jeff? That’s what you’re asking. This is just a watered-down form of prostitution. You realize that, right?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Cut the drama, CC.”

  “It is,” she whispered.

  His jaw tightened. “We’ve all made sacrifices.”

  Her breathing sped up. What would her parents think to realize that the horrors of Aurora had followed her to Shelton? What would they think if she agreed to any of this madness?

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” he barked.

  The room started to buzz, but Carrie kept her eyes trained on Jeff, afraid if she didn’t, her resolve would buckle. Swallowing, she found the courage to say what he didn’t want to hear. The truth.

  “I won’t.”

  His nostrils flared. “I always knew you were selfish, Carrie. You really are careless. All of us pledged to work for the good of this community, and yet you can’t do this one thing to protect us? Thirty-six people have to give up their way of life for one self-serving woman? Unbelievable.”

  Stung, she fell back a step. People tried to talk over him, but she couldn’t hear anything except Jeff and Jeff alone.

  “You get the first well,” he fumed. “The best plot in the field. First choice in crops. Extra clothes. Extra food! Your mistake nearly destroyed us before, and you got a tiny slap on the wrist. This whole clan revolves around little Carrie Ashworth, and I’m sick of it! We take care of you and your scrawny siblings all these years, and you can’t do this for us in return? Why? Because you don’t care about a single soul beside yourself. That’s why!”

  Chaos erupted. People yelled at Jeff and each other. Carrie blinked rapidly from the battering ram, but Jeff wasn’t done.

  Not even close.

  “Even if you only cared about Zach and Amber,” Jeff shouted to be heard, “you’d make it work with Oliver. But it’s always been about you, hasn’t it? Well, I’m not letting you be careless again. You almost ruined my life before. You’re not going to ruin it again! You’re a member of this clan, so act like it!”

  Jeff paused to take a breath, unlike Carrie who suddenly couldn’t breathe. Then his gaze shifted from her to another. Someone leaned against the side wall, arms folded.

  Carrie shut her eyes, not only ill, but now faint.

  “Maybe Carrie’s not the one I should be talking to!” Jeff raged. “Maybe she’s not the one ruining things.”

  “Go ahead and take it out on me,” Greg said, breaking his promise to remain silent, “but it won’t change a thing. Carrie’s made up her mind.”

  “If you weren’t here,” Jeff yelled, “she wouldn’t be in such a hurry to dump Oliver!”

  “Shut up, Jeff!” Braden said.

  He spun around. “I’m not going to shut up. Greg’s the real problem here. Carrie never had an issue with Oliver until that hotshot showed up. I knew Greg was trouble from the beginning. I never should have voted him in. I demand a recall!”

  Everyone was on their feet, yelling, shouting.

  “Greg has a girlfriend in North Carolina,” Sasha called. “He’s not interested in Carrie.”

  “Yeah?” Jeff shot back. “But that doesn’t mean Carrie’s not interested in him!”

  What Carrie would have given to be invisible. Her heart pounded, her palms were clammy, and the room swayed around her.

  Greg stepped away from his wall. “I’m warnin’ you, Jeff. That’s enough.”

  “You can’t deny it, can you?” Jeff said. “Even you noticed her drooling all over you at that baseball game. Everyone did.”

  Carrie pinched the rim of her nose. Not that anyone noticed. Every eye was trained on the war of words. Maybe she was invisible after all.

  “Carrie was never interested in Oliver,” Braden said. “Amber told me. Even before Greg showed up.”

  Jeff whirled around so fast Braden nearly tripped. “Yeah, but having Greg around sure ain’t helping!”

  Carrie searched for the nearest escape. Doors, blocked. Windows, locked. The room closed in around her. It was hot. Too full. People were everywhere. If she had enough air in her lungs, she would have yelled at them to stop, but as it was, she worked on not passing out.

  “I think it’s time to step outside,” Greg hissed.

  Jeff moved forward. “Gladly.”

  “That. Is. Enough!” someone shouted. A new voice. A shrill voice.

  The room came to an abrupt standstill.

  Carrie peeked out from under her arm long enough to see May’s frail body raised to her full five feet.

  “Look what you’re doing to this girl,” May said, pointing in Carrie’s direction. Just that fast, Carrie’s invisibility cloak was thrown off and every eye went to her. “I refuse to sit another minute and listen to you tear this sweet girl apart, Jeff Kovach. After everything she’s done for you—after everything she’s done for your wife!—how dare you? How dare you!”

  Jeff didn’t respond, and for the space of a minute, there wasn’t a single sound in the Trenton’s home. Then May lifted a wobbly finger and pointed to the door.

  “Get out.”

  Jeff was too stunned to move.

  “I mean it,” May said, voice shaking in fury. “Get out of my house and don’t expect a floor to sleep on during the next raid. In fact, Carrie hasn’t given us Oliver’s report, and I’m not letting her. There’s not a single person here who deserves it. Not a single one!”

  Eyes darted around the room like Ping-Pong balls from Carrie and Greg to May and Jeff. But May kept her murderous glare on one person. “You’ve forgotten it’s not just Carrie’s generosity you prey on, Jeff Kovach. Maybe you’ll remember that the next time you come to my house and trample a person I love as my own granddaughter under your ungrateful feet. So leave and don’t make me say it again. In fact,” May said, voice rising, “all of you get out and don’t ever come back!”

  CJ nodded wearily. “You heard her, folks. Time to go.”

  CJ’s voice didn’t have near the intensity of his wife’s, but it had the desired effect. The adults stood and shuffled to the front door. Carrie wasn’t about to stick around either. She pushed through the crowd, ignoring every person and attempt to erase the last five minutes of her life.

  Someone caught her arm. “Carrie, wait,” Greg said. “Just wait a second to—”

  She yanked free of his grasp and broke into a run, heading the opposite direction of the crowd, out the back door, and into the pouring rain.

  thirty

  “WHERE’S CARRIE?”

  Amber took a step back, frightened by the dark expression in Jeff’s eyes. He looked part madman, part werewolf, as rain dripped down his thick beard.

  “At the meeting,” Amber said.

  Jeff scanned their living room. With only two candles, it took a moment for him to spot his boys in the corner. Jonah was asleep. Little Jeffrey stopped playing with his truck and looked up. Jeff stormed across the room, clothes and shoes tracking water across the carpet. He yanked Little Jeffrey to standi
ng and grabbed Jonah without any effort to keep him asleep.

  The two boys started to wail. Jeff stormed back the way he’d come. Lindsey and Maddie jumped out of his way, leaving him plenty of room to tower over Amber as he stopped at the door.

  “Jenna’s better now,” he said. “Tell Carrie we don’t need—or want—her help anymore.”

  Amber was too terrified to argue.

  As Jeff pushed past her onto the porch, she nearly mentioned the boys’ coats. It was pouring rain outside. They were going to get soaked. Then she decided that if Jonah and Jeffrey caught a cold, it was their dad’s own fault. Their sobs faded into the rain.

  Heart pounding, Amber shut the door, struggling to make sense of what had happened. Lindsey and Maddie rushed to her.

  “What was that all about?” Lindsey asked.

  “I don’t know,” Amber said. The shock started to wear off and melted to anger. “What the heck did I do to him? He thinks he can just come in here and yell at me? What a jerk.”

  “It’s not you, Amber,” Maddie said. “You should have seen him after they lost their stuff. He went crazy, throwing wood around like a maniac. My dad told us to stay away from him.”

  “Everyone should. Jerk!” Amber yelled at the door. “He doesn’t even care that his kids are going to freeze, or that they’re crying or anything. What kind of dad doesn’t care about—”

  Pounding erupted on the front door.

  The three girls screamed and scrambled into the kitchen. They crouched in the far corner.

  More pounding, and Amber started to shake. “What do I do?” she whispered. “I’m not letting Jeff back in. I don’t care if he forgot their coats. He should have thought of that the first time.”

  “Then don’t answer it,” Maddie said.

  The door shook under Jeff’s fury. The girls hugged each other.