“Please don’t let Otis eat us!” blurted out Caleb, real fear in his voice.
Cody looked confused for an instant, then laughed. He crouched down and pulled them all into a hug.
“Don’t be silly.” he said. “Otis won’t eat you. He loves children. But from now on, I want all three of you to check the gate when you leave. I want a triple check, you understand?”
They nodded, assured him they’d really, really, really make sure it never happened again.
“Good. You need to clean up the mess, though. I know it’s gross, but it’s your mess. Dig a hole and bury them.”
They hung their little heads, relieved at not being eaten by a bear, but still pretty sure they’d latched the gate. Grownups never believed anything a little kid said but it wasn’t so bad. Nobody seemed to be mad at them.
Gordon silently cursed a blue streak as he waited to load up his plate. He’d expected Cody to lose it with the kids. At least scream at them some. Cause some friction, maybe some lingering hard feelings but it had turned into a hug fest. Hell, the kids were starting to believe that they’d been in a hurry and hadn’t closed it properly. Everybody took tiny little portions of the scrambled eggs but screw that. He was hungry. He took what he normally would and if they didn’t like it, they could kiss his ass.
He thought about the chokecherry leaves as everyone wolfed down the meal. The ruckus with the buffalo and then the chickens had everyone running behind with their duties. He still had some hidden in a sack under his mattress. Nobody got mad about the dead buffalo. Nobody got mad about the dead chickens. Nobody was fighting and thinking they needed to leave or maybe get a new leader. If anything, the killings had brought them closer together. He needed a new plan and he thought he knew just the thing.
If he couldn’t turn the others against Cody, he’d turn him against himself. Otis was the key. Cody would tear himself apart if something happened to the bear. In the aftermath, he could get rid of the other animals one at a time. There would be a new death every week until they finally gave up and abandoned this place. They’d never figure it out and after a few of the animals had passed on to the great hunting ground in the sky, they would be glad to leave. They’d be too afraid to stay. He smiled at the thought. Otis loved that nasty canned meat. He’d put the poisonous leaves inside of it, toss it to him then wait. Wait for the bear to die and Cody to fall to pieces. He felt confident, this was the answer that had eluded him and he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it sooner. He ate slowly, ignored the conversation around him and let the others finish and leave to go do their chores for the day. Mr. High and Mighty had him on perimeter duty and that suited him just fine. The bear would be in front of the fireplace hogging all the heat. All it did was sleep, sometimes for days at a time. Hibernation light is what the cripple called it. Whatever. He’d wake up if he smelled the Spam then he could spend the rest of the day checking the fences. No one could blame him for what was about to happen. By the time he’d finished eating he had the house to himself. He hid his grin as he swiped off his plate with his sleeve, set it in the clean pile and practiced his sad face.
32
Harper & Cody
The November wind blowing out of the north ruffled Cody’s hair and tossed it around his face. It was getting long and hung down to his collar. Longer than he’d ever worn it. Like the others, he was starting to look a little wild. Not as much as the twins or Swan or even Vanessa but he was embracing the animal’s nature, becoming more like them. Harper had twisted a few small braids into his hair and adorned them with beads. A small ostrich plume was woven into one of them. It had been a gift from Vanessa. She’d told him it was what a chief should wear.
Cody and Harper were checking the fish traps in the Mississippi since the twins were making a run outside the fences to look for more chickens. Their polar bears were as tame as horses, almost as fast and about a hundred times deadlier.
They sat together on the bench overlooking the muddy water and Harper slid in close. She shivered a little from the northern winds and he slipped an arm around her for warmth. They wore their armor whenever they left the house and it made bundling up cumbersome. Winter coats didn’t fit over it very well and it was too restrictive if they strapped the pieces on over heavy jackets. Soon they would all be wearing capes like Swans, she had shown them how practical they were.
“You didn’t seem too keen on the buffalo robe they said they were going to make.” she said.
“I dunno, just seems weird, I guess.” Cody shrugged. “I grew up here, saw Teddy every day. Brushed him, fed him, and cleaned up behind him. It just seems wrong somehow.”
“I think it would be ok. I think he’d be glad you had it.”
“I know, I heard Swan. We are a part of everything, everything is a part of us”
“Don’t forget Mother Earth provides.” Harper added, imitating Swans voice. “But seriously, it’s ok Cody. Teddy doesn’t need it anymore. I’m sure he’d be proud to know that after all the years you’ve taken care of him, he could return the favor. It will keep you warm and those monsters can’t bite through it. Besides that, it sets you apart as our leader.”
Cody balked at the words. He didn’t consider himself a leader, not really. He didn’t want a throne to sit on or for anyone to call him your majesty or anything. He knew what needed to get done and let everybody know. They all had to work together to survive. He thought of himself as part of a team where everyone had input. Murray was much smarter than him and Donny had become a master hunter, providing fresh meat for everyone. Swan was always so confident, even if she was a little weird. Vanessa, the youngest of their core group, had a natural way with the small children. Any of them were just as suited, if not more than him, to lead.
He snapped back to the moment, missing what Harper had just said. “Huh.”
“I said, what do you think really happened to everyone? What made them turn into monsters?”
“I don’t have a clue. Maybe it’s like Swan said and the earth just had enough of our pollution and destruction. Maybe it’s something that a scientist created in a lab and it got loose. Doesn’t really matter at this point. We’re safe in here. It’s secure and off the beaten path so we don’t get too many zombies wandering in. We have each other. Food is easy to come by. I do miss my PlayStation though.” he grinned.
“Do you think there are more people out there somewhere?” she asked.
“There has to be. We found Gordon and the little kids came from somewhere, so there’s gotta be pockets of people still alive.”
“I miss the old world too,” she said “but if it had to end. I’m glad I’m here.”
“With you.” she added, barely above a whisper.
He looked at her. They’d just been talking, friend to friend and she was easy to talk to but the way her voice became soft caused something to click and shut his brain down. He was suddenly aware that his arm was around the most incredible girl he’d ever met. She stared into his eyes and all he could think about were her lips, so red and soft and slightly parted. He wondered how they would taste, how they would feel. His heart started slamming into his ribs and he couldn’t think of anything to say. She leaned a little closer and he could feel her warmth, saw the flush in her cheeks and moved a little closer himself. Her eyes were only inches away, their noses almost touching and he breathed in her scent. They stayed that way for a long time, too unsure to move any closer but knowing they didn’t want to move any farther apart.
“Cody.” she breathed and, on her lips, it was an adoration.
A confession.
A declaration.
He closed the short distance before he lost his nerve and his lips found hers. Soft and gentle, unsure and hesitant. She rose to meet him, pushed against him brought a hand up to twine in his hair.
Gentleness became more insistent. Uncertainty fell away and he pulled her close, armor against armor, and his tongue found hers. It was so easy, so natural. All the questions he had about k
issing girls, what you did with your nose or did your teeth bash together and did it hurt if you pressed too hard were answered in an instant. None of those things mattered and it was the most wondrous feeling he’d ever had. He could kiss her for hours.
For days.
Forever.
“Get a room, you two.” Gordon said and glared as he stomped by on his long journey around the fence line. “And put a condom on it, last thing we need is another mouth to feed.”
They pulled apart quickly, plastic armor got entangled and they fumbled to loosen it. Both of their cheeks burned in embarrassment and they looked anywhere but at each other.
Cody stood quickly, muttered something about checking the traps and practically ran for the river.
Harper was mortified. It was the first time she’d kissed a boy, a real kiss not a birthday peck on the cheek and Gordon had to ruin it. She kind of understood why Swan didn’t like him now. He didn’t have to be so hateful. She resettled her armor and smoothed her hair. Well, at least she wasn’t cold anymore and a smile crept back across her lips. It had been nice. So nice. She would get him alone again and pick up right where they had left off. Maybe after the Thanksgiving meal, wasn’t there a tradition of kissing under mistletoe? Who said it had to be only at Christmas? She set off to find Murray, he would have a book with pictures of it and he’d know how to find some.
33
Busted
Swan needed her sharpening stones, the grizzly job her and Donny were doing was a lot more work than they had anticipated. The buffalo was huge, a thousand pounds at least, probably closer to two thousand. They had only dressed deer before and they weighed maybe a hundred and fifty pounds for a big one. Moving quietly had become second nature to her, something she did without thinking and her choice of armor and clothes helped her move silently when hunting. It was something she’d learned from Donny and her wolves. She stepped over the creaking second step on the porch out of habit. She avoided the warped board by the planter because it squeaked and before she opened the door, she stopped when she heard Gordons voice.
“Wake up lazy ass.” he said and she heard a thwacking sound. She stepped to the side, peeked through the living room window and saw him hit Otis again with a poker from the fireplace.
The bear grunted but didn’t open his eyes. He slept a lot, it was his hibernation season, but it wasn’t true hibernation. He’d wake up and mosey around every few days.
“C’mon you big stupid idiot.” Gordon said. “Got something tasty for you. Yum yum yummy, it’s your favorite food.”
He tossed a chunk of meat right in front of his nose and Otis grunted again then opened a bleary eye. Swan moved fast, ran back to the door and shoved it open. She heard the back-door slam and hurried over to see what Gordon had been trying to feed the bear. She snatched it up as his big tongue was reaching out for it and he snuffled a surprise when it wasn’t there. There were a handful of leaves stuffed into the greasy lump of Spam and her eyes narrowed. She double checked, made sure there were no more then carried the whole mess into the kitchen. She put it in a Tupperware container and snapped on the lid before she headed upstairs to the third floor. His door was locked but she kicked until it broke open. She wrinkled her nose and went immediately to the window to open it. The room reeked of unwashed body and something else. Something she couldn’t identify but it smelled dirty. The bed was unmade and the sheets were filthy and stained. There were nasty books on the floor and some of them were open to pictures of blonde girls spreading their legs wide. Some of them looked like he’d been spitting on them or something. She was thirteen, she wasn’t stupid but it took her a minute to realize what she was looking at. Her girlfriends had giggled over video clips on the internet of men and women doing the things men and women did but this was gross. This was disgusting. She looked around the room, averting her eyes from the disturbing images her mind was conjuring up of Gordon hunched over the pictures that looked like an older version of Harper and… and…
She couldn’t even think it, shuddered and started opening drawers using her cloak so she wouldn’t have to touch the handles. If he had any more of the leaves, she wanted to find them. She didn’t know what they were but if he was trying to feed them to Otis, they had to be something bad.
Swan wasn’t subtle. She dumped out the contents of the desk, the old chest of drawers and pulled everything off the hangers in the closet, everything off the shelves. She didn’t particularly try to smash his iPad but didn’t bother to step over it either. The screen shattered under her foot. When she was finished, she had a small collection of trinkets gathered on the desktop. One of her feathers she used to braid in her hair. It was jet black, a ravens, and she thought it must have come loose and she lost it in the woods. Vanessa’s bracelet she’d made from pieces of hand sanded oak beads. Harpers locket on a gold chain that went missing and they had blamed on one of the monkeys.
She hadn’t found any more of the leaves but there was one more place to check. She went all the way back downstairs to get a fireplace poker to pull the blankets off and toss them aside. When she tipped the mattress over her eyes widened.
“Bingo, you bastard.” she said.
She ignored the other magazines and pulled out a Ziploc bag of leaves that had the same coloring as the ones in the Spam. She was surprised when she looked up to see Donny standing in the doorway. He was wondering what was taking her so long and now he knew. He had a question on his face and she held the bag up.
“Know what these are?” she asked
He shrugged and mimed smoking a cigarette.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s not dope. Gordon was trying to feed some to Otis.”
He raised an eyebrow and mimed the wheelchair sign and she nodded.
“Yeah. Let’s ask Murray.”
He pointed to a book she had tossed on the floor along with the sticky magazines and she picked it up. It was from the library downstairs and was about dangerous plants.
By the time he got back, the bear should be dying or dead. Gordon practiced his surprised look, his concerned look and finally his commiserating sad look. Should he put an arm around Cody and say something like I’m so sorry, buddy? Would that be pushing it a little too far? He’d play it by ear. Meanwhile, he had enough leaves left to get rid of two or three more animals. The wolves for sure. They’d definitely be next. After that, if he had any left, he could get rid of the panther.
He walked slowly along the trail worn along the fence line, taking his time and stopping to relax often. He was supposed to do some other stuff when he finished his rounds, he couldn’t remember exactly what, but whatever it was would be forgotten by everyone else when the bear got sick. Probably mucking out more stalls. It was cold when he was in the shadows but not too bad if he stayed in the sunlight. He moved away from the fence line, away from the overhanging branches and didn’t bother checking for holes from something burrowing under it. Zombies didn’t dig and he had always thought it was a waste of time to do the checks every day. A few times a month would be more than enough. His mind drifted back to how it would be in another few weeks. How he’d lead them all back to civilization inside the gated community. He walked right past a fallen branch bending the chain link fence nearly double. He had forgotten to bring the saw and ax in his hurry to get away from whoever had been coming in the house. Whatever. Whoever made the rounds tomorrow could cut it up and fix the fence if they wanted. He ambled along, lost in his delicious thoughts of Harper and the fun they would have once he got her away from the Park.
It was nearing dinnertime when he got back, he had stretched the walk out as long as he could. He’d even gotten a little nap on one of the benches that was in a patch of sunshine. There wasn’t any commotion happening as he neared the house and he wondered if anyone had even discovered the bear was dead. All it did was sleep so maybe they hadn’t. He’d have to play it cool, maybe he could notice the bloody foam coming from his mouth when he went to the fire to warm up. He had the per
fect alibi so why not? He could be the hero who tries to save the beast.
When he stepped inside, they were gathered around the table and it wasn’t for dinner. They turned to stare at him and he saw the bag of leaves sitting on the polished wood. He froze and his mind raced. He should run. Right now.
Donny ghosted in behind him with Yewan silent by his side.
Running was out of the question.
“What’s up?” he asked and started taking off his heavy winter jacket.
“I ran into some trouble at the back of the Park,” he said. “There were some branches over the fence and it took me a while to fix everything.”
No one answered, they just stared and they had hard looks on their painted faces. He had to think fast but he had to know what they knew so the lie would work. He adjusted his armor, settling it in to more comfortable positons.
“We having salad for dinner?” he asked, buying time.
“Come in and sit down.” Cody said.
“Uh… sure, bud. We having a meeting?”
As he approached the table, he saw a handful of the chewed up leaves they had cut out of Teddy’s stomach and the glob of Spam with the leaves still stuffed into it. The book he’d hidden under his mattress, Dangerous Plants of the Midwest was opened to the page he’d earmarked about chokeberries. The little pile of stolen treasures was there, too. He froze and a spear point prodded him forward. Not gently, either.
“Have a seat.” Cody said coolly and Swan pulled the one at the end of the table out for him.
She smiled a wicked smile and her teeth nearly glowed under her soot blackened face. Cody’s face was striped in war paint too. All of them were, even the little kids had their faces shaded so they looked like their fox companions.
Gordon sat and swallowed hard. This had the feeling of a tribunal; some primitive court room and he was the one on trial. Whoever he’d heard on the porch had found the poisoned meat meant for Otis. They’d searched his room and found the rest of the leaves and then cut open the buffalo to see what killed him. There was no way he could lie his way out and that was why Swan was all smiley.
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