by Cooper, DJ
Charleigh sat comforting Janice when a voice from across the room caught their attention. “What’s going on?”
Janice leapt from her seat and rushed to Dez. “Honey, you’re ok.”
“A little worse for wear, but they say I’ll be good as new soon. What are you doing here?”
“It’s Herb; he’s been shot.”
Dez’s eyes widened as she tried to sit up. “What? When?”
Charleigh explained, “The gang attacked the farm at the same time we were defending the infirmary.”
“What? There’s something we’re missing here. If they were after a person or supplies, they would have chosen one place or the other. Have we figured out who these people are yet?”
“Not yet. Mom, Ryan thinks you’re the target they were after here.”
“After what I saw honey? I think they were after Matty. We need to hide him and Rita.”
Charleigh and Janice stood there chatting with Dez about how to best take care of Matty and Rita while waiting for news on Herb. Dez reached out and took her hand hoping to comfort her. Janice looked down with a small tear in her eye, a look of sadness covered her as she stood. Shoulders hunched over looking to the floor in a trance of sorrow.
Dez squeezed her hand. “You have to believe he's gonna be OK.”
Janice looked back at her. “Herb wasn't doing well before this. Before everything happened, he'd been diagnosed with cancer. He didn't want to go through chemo.”
“Oh Janice, I didn't know.”
“We fought about the chemo. I told him being in his seventies wasn’t old. All of this happened only a few weeks after the diagnosis. So, we never really got the chance, and were preparing for it to progress. We didn't want to burden anyone else with the issue. Just figured when it got to the point that he could no longer carry on; that then it would be an appropriate time to let everyone know. We just wanted to spend some quality time with Julie and make sure she was going to be OK and not be a burden on the community.”
“Janice, no matter what you and Julie are gonna be OK. You all have been such a blessing, you would never be a burden. But anyway, we're gonna hope for the best with Herb. I wish you’d said something sooner, Rebecca has a wide variety of herbs guaranteed to help almost anything.” Dez squeezed her hand and Janice smiled weakly.
Rita came walking in with Matty and Ariel who both immediately climbed up onto the bed with Dez.
Rita chastised them, “Now you two don't be crawling all over Dez. You know she needs some rest.”
Dez smiled and reached out for Ariel's hand while patting Matty on the shoulder. Looking to Rita she smiled. “I'm feeling pretty good after my nap. Let them stay, please?”
Rita had taken it upon herself to become Dez's keeper as she put it. She smiled slightly and nodded. Turning and heading over to the area were there were drinks, she looked back over her shoulder. “OK, but only for a little while.”
Charleigh smiled at her and followed. She looked back towards Dez before whispering to Rita. “I'm having a tough time wrapping my mind around Matt's presence here with Morgan. I'm really not clear on what’s going on with her.”
Rita looked over to Dez before handing Charleigh a cup of coffee. “There's a lot about Morgan that people don't realize. When Matt and I split up she was part of the reason. She has plagued his life since he was a teen. There was something between her and him besides the obvious. For some reason he cheats on everybody he's with with her. I never really understood why they just didn't get together. It's twisted at best. She is cold and calculated, corrupt to the core. He is unable to break away from her. I think deep down that Matt wishes for something different, but he always goes along with what she's doing. When she is out of his life he can be a good guy but it was inevitable that she would come back.”
Charleigh listened with wide eyes as she continued. “I wanted to tell your mom, I knew he and Morgan were carrying on for about the past year. I think John had an idea, because when Matt would go up North he would always leave John in the lurch to go and see Morgan.”
Sipping her own coffee, she motioned Charleigh to the chair in the corner. “Before they tried to kill me I heard Morgan and Cindy talking about your mom’s trust. Matt somehow found out, that your mom had more money than she told him about. They knew that there was a trust set up for you guys, and Matt was trying to get in. I know she set a stipulation up for Matty. I think that's why he wanted your mom to marry him.”
Charleigh laughed, “Mom knew what he was trying to do and that's why she refused to marry him. I know she adores him, but she never really trusted him. She once referred to him as entertainment, telling me that she didn’t love him but that for the moment he served his purpose.” Placing her hand on Rita’s she continued, “He'd already tried going to the attorney. Mom just thought he was trying to weasel his way in because sometimes that's how he is. None of us had any idea about Morgan. I think this changes things, but not at the core. The only thing that really bothers mom is the lies. The worst of it is that she would have made a stipulation for him, given him free reign to do as he liked to enjoy the ability to explore what he was trying to do. It was oh… about six to eight months ago when she found out what he'd really been trying to do, and it hurt her more than she’ll admit. She’s done a lot for him, financing his every whim. She thought for once someone wasn't just after the money because she never told him about it. We don't know how he found out.”
Rita looked shocked, “She knew?”
“Oh yes, she knew.”
“Wow, I really underestimated your mom.”
Charleigh looked concerned and asked, “Do you think Morgan could have gathered this gang? I mean, I understand that Matt would want Matty and that they may want to take over the farm. But as it stands right now, there is no money. When the financial collapse happened all of that became a moot point.”
Rita and Charleigh sat silently sipping their hot brew. The question lingering in the air without an answer.
Roger and Ray entered the room and asked to speak with Dez alone. Dez nodded and motioned for Charleigh and Rita to come get the kids.
Once they left Roger approached Dez, who was now sitting up on the bed and offered his hand to shake. “I don't know if you remember me, but I am Roger Morris and this is Ray Saylor.”
Dez shook his hand. “I remember you.” Glancing toward Ray, “Both of you. Whatcha need?”
“We haven't been entirely honest with you. When we left with John and the others what we didn't tell them was that we have information from the camp up in Worcester. They know we have it.”
“What kind of information?”
“The kind that points to the cause of all of this.”
“ Then why tell me?”
“Because there's another connection.” Roger looked at Ray, “we're not exactly sure what that is at this time, there's so much going on. There seems to be another piece of this puzzle that we can’t quite figure out.”
Dez look puzzled, looking from one to the other repeatedly. Her expression seeking an answer yet the two just glanced from one to another. “So, what you're telling me is that our tiny little community full of insignificant people hold the key to what happened in this crisis?” Roger half nodded. “I find all this just a little fictitious. First my boyfriend has a girlfriend who wants to kill me. We’re being attacked by an unknown force. Who incidentally seem to be after either me or Rita. Neither of us have anything to do with any of this. I don't know what you're trying to pull here but I'm not falling for it.”
At that moment Rita made her presence known by clearing her throat. “I might know something about this…”
Surprised, they all turned to look at her. Dez tilted her head in confusion. “How could you know anything about this?”
“When we were in the camp after Morgan tried to kill me. There were men there seeking information about your group. The people in the camp called them the black suits, but who they really were was FEMA .”
/> Both Roger and Ray knew that she did indeed know something. Dez looked at her questioningly, how she could possibly be involved.
She continued, “Once they thought I could remember what happened, they began to torture me, looking for more information about John and the group that traveled with me before I ended up in the river.” Looking first to Roger then to Ray she continued.“ I can only assume that what they wanted to know was about you two…”
Roger nodded hesitantly. “I imagine this is true. But how did they know that we were with the group and where we were going?”
“I think the information you're looking for is with my husband. The black suits were very upset that we took the camp commanders briefcase. I don't exactly know what's in it, but my husband can tell you better. I know it contained maps and names of people in the government.” Rita began to cry before continuing. “Is this why we’re being attacked?”
Ray reached out for Dez's hand saying, “we're very sorry for this. I think it’s best if we take all of this information and head for the new government.”
Dez could only shake her head. Her hands clasped together over her mouth trying to think the scenario through. As though an epiphany had struck she looked up at all of them. “No.” They all looked at her questioning if she’d heard them right. “How about someone go get Ryan and we have a pow wow.”
Rita nodded and excused herself, heading out the door in search of Ryan. Roger and Ray stood looking to Dez trying to figure out what she had in mind. After a few moments Rita returned with him. Standing in the doorway, he looked tall and tan, all this running around had leaned him out. Dez smiled at him, it wasn’t the first time she’d noticed how handsome he was. He came over beside her grasping her hand and asking how she felt. She nodded to him she was fine and turned to Roger. “Let's say you explain all this to Ryan.”
“When we left the camp in Worcester with John's group to come down here, we took with us vital documents showing who was behind all of this. It’s because we knew somewhere along the line, someone would try to stop what our government and others were trying to do. Apparently, more information was gathered by Rita's husband before they left the camp in Pennsylvania. Now what we need to do is find this new government that people are talking about. The one that has the support of the loyal military. Those still loyal to the constitution.”
Ryan stood looking at them in silence for a moment. The lack of response on anybody's part became uncomfortable for Roger and Ray. It was difficult to gauge exactly what Ryan was thinking. They both stood, shuffling their feet waiting for him to respond.
Ryan cleared his throat. “This makes sense, a lot of things that have been going on and some of the things we've seen lately are starting to make sense. We actually have some guys with us that have a tattoo on them. The same one, it has a circle with the arrows going into it. It’s one that’s given by those running the camps, they are claiming it’s a tracker.”
Dez looked surprised, this was news to her. “ What do you mean by tattoo?”
Ryan excused himself for a moment while he went out into the corridor. Returning with Aaron at his side Dez sat straighter, reaching out to shake his hand. “Aaron, it's so good to see you. how are you? Did you find your family?”
Aaron nodded that he had. “I did, but right now they're being held in the FEMA camp.” Rolling up his sleeve to expose the tattoo, he showed Dez his arm. “I know about the tattoo because they gave me one. They did not realize my connection to you when they sent me as part of the group to attack. In the first attack I set myself up, hidden, and was shooting the worst of the gang. Some of the people that they’re using to attack are simply doing what they're told because they are holding members of their family or their friends. But some of them? They’re just vicious.” Looking to Roger he continued, “Roger can tell you, he and Sam saw me out there that first night.”
Roger nodded in affirmation as Aaron continued. “These tattoos have some kind of radioactive ink that they can track. I don't know how we can get them off short of cutting them out, but we need to get them removed.”
Ryan looked to Dez. “I was just talking to these guys about the camp and where it's located. I think part of the problem here is that we need to liberate the camps. Most of the people in them have no idea what's going on and were simply looking for assistance. Now they're being used as slave labor. Anyone who refuses is either infected with Ebola, or outright shot. We did find out that Ebola is not spreading on its own, it’s being spread to weaken the population.”
Aaron looked pleadingly at them. “I need to save my family, I'd hoped to sneak back and slip them out. These camps are guarded, and the people are kept under lock down at night. I'm not sure how this can be done, but the conditions are terrible, and these people have to be stopped.”
Dez sat silently taking in the conversation that continued on these lines. She agreed that they needed to be rescued and these camps needed to be shut down, but the scope of such a quest was massive. “How could we do anything?” The men stopped and looked at her. Looking up she realized she’d said it aloud. “I mean, there are so many across the country. How can our little band of merry men possibly do anything to change it?”
Aaron’s voice cracked. “I don't know about these other camps. I just want my children. Can't we please , please just help this one camp?”
“It starts with one.” Roger reached out and shook his hand. “I saw you in the woods, you saved us during that first battle. You saved me…” Looking at Ray and Ryan. “We can organize some men, create a frontal assault against the camp. This will draw their men to the front gates and maybe we can have a few people sneak in the back to pull the prisoners out. I know it's not a full plan, but Aaron knows the camp. I say we start with one… this one.”
Ryan stood, arms crossed just nodding. Dez swung her feet off the bed. Hopping off, she winced a little as she grabbed her side where the stitches were. Ryan quickly reached for her arm to steady her. Whispering in her ear. “You might wanna put some britches on there, little lady.”
Everyone laughed as Dez turned to examine the open back to her gown. Rita came rushing over with another to cover her. She made her way over to the coffee. Pouring a cup, she turned back to them. “As for myself and the rest of my people here; we’ll return to the farm. It's too difficult to defend more than one place and if we're not here there's no reason to attack it. We will be better served even in a minimal capacity on the farm; than creating a distraction elsewhere.”
Preparing for an argument from Ryan she started to object when he said. “I agree with you on that, I will send a patrol to check on you each day and, in the meantime, get with these guys and find out what Rich knows. He gave me some information when he first got here and was looking for you two.” Pointing to Roger and Ray. “He knew you by name, which means those at the camp do also.” Looking back to Dez with a look she wasn’t sure how to take. One of genuine concern and sadness. “When y’all are ready. I’ll make sure to get you there.”
“Oh… Ok, so when can we go home?”
“Let me go check with the doctor to see if he has any concerns and find out about Herb. I’ll be right back.”
Calling after him she tried to hide her uneasiness. “Can you have Janice and the others come in here?”
He nodded on his way out the door.
Chapter 11
“United”
For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.…
Ecclesiastes 4:10-12 (Berean Study Bible)
It felt like hours before the doctor came in to tell them about Herb. The look on his face was enough to send Janice into sobs. His first words told them what the outcome was. “I’m very sorry.” Charleigh began to cry as she held Janice’s hand. “He’d l
ost too much blood. Was he on any medication that would thin his blood?”
Janice nodded, “Yes, he was because of his heart attack.”
“We just couldn’t stop the bleeding.”
“I understand. Can I see him?”
The doctor took Janice to where her husband lay. While the others waited where they were for word on when they’d be going home. Charleigh sobbed while Rita asked Dez about the others at the farm. “Jeremy is going to take the news of Herb’s death pretty hard. They’d grown close these past few months, working on this gadget or that invention.”
“Who is there? Will we be safe?” Rita was full of questions, Dez forgot that she’d never been there.
“Well let’s see, you know John and Amy and those who came with them right?”
“Yea.”
“Well now there’s the kids and you know them. Charleigh, Connor and Ariel. Jeremy and Toni. We had some friends in another area of town that was indefensible come over Frank, Sarah and their kids. Loel and Rebecca have three kids as well so Matty will have plenty of friends. Oh… and can’t forget Dylan, my best friend Tawny’s son.”
“Does anyone know that I’m not dead yet?”
“I’m really not sure. Not to worry though, it’ll be fine. You and Matty belong here!”
“Thank you for all you’ve done for him.”
“Aww shucks twert nothin.”
They chuckled a little, but it was tough to feel upbeat when someone close to them was gone.
No one had told Dez about Matt leaving but she surmised by his presence at the infirmary that he’d not be returning to the farm. She didn’t know that Kimmie and Renee’ had left with him. Rita was concerned with how they would act towards her. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. And let anyone say different and see what happens.”
“I know Matt’s family doesn’t like me much.”
“I’m sure we don’t need to worry about them at this point. It’s likely that they are feeling just a little bit awkward right now themselves. I adore them, and this isn’t their fault, but I won’t tolerate any catty antics tearing our group apart. You just pull your weight and let me worry about it.”