The Death: The Complete Trilogy Page 28

  “Nope, what we’ve done is the most I’ve ever traveled in my life. I just wish I could have seen all of it under different circumstances.”

  “You and me both.’

  Their short and peaceful break was shattered when they heard Devin hollering, “Tess, come here now!”

  They both sprinted for the house. When they reached the beach front of the house, they discovered the reason for Devin’s alarming call. Alex and his entourage were there.

  “Lady, we came to talk,” Alex said sternly.

  Tess almost burst out in a fit of laughter seeing Alex act tough and formidable. She knew he couldn’t be trusted and that he had the potential for being deadly, but seeing a ten-year-old trying to intimidate an armed adult was somewhat comical to her.

  “It’s a free country. Go ahead,” Devin said.

  “We need more food,” Alex answered.

  “I think the closest store…” Devin said but was interrupted by Tess.

  “We can’t spare anymore right now, but—”

  “Give us more food,” Alex barked.

  “If you’ll let me finish, please,” Tess chided him. “I propose tomorrow we, you and me, go looking for food.”

  “No.”

  “If you want more food, you’re going to have to go find it,” Tess lectured.

  “No.”

  “I’m not going to argue with a ten-year-old.”

  “I’m eleven.”

  “Whatever.” Devin smirked.

  “Alex, we can’t spare any, and in fact, we also need to go scavenge. Listen, there has to be plenty of food around here. There’s no way you hit every one of the thousands of homes on Topsail Island.”

  “The food is all gone,” Alex answered.

  “You know this how?”

  Alex lowered his head and winced. The fact he’d have to show weakness ate at his immature mind, but he resisted telling her the truth. “Because we know.”

  Tess stepped towards him and said to another boy, “What is it? We can help, but we can’t if we don’t know what’s going on.”

  The boy, not a day over eight, replied nervously, “The men told us.”

  Alex elbowed the boy hard and snapped at him, “Shut up!”

  “What men? Alex, just tell us; we can help you,” Tess urged.

  Alex kept his head lowered and mumbled something unintelligible.

  “Tess, this is useless. The kid’s a retard!” Devin blurted out.

  Alex lifted his head and shot Devin a nasty look.

  Tess took a couple steps closer. Now she was within arm’s length of Alex, who looked anxious about her proximity to him.

  “Alex, we can’t give you any more food, but we can help you get more. Please let us help you.”

  After an uncomfortable pause, Alex lifted his head and confided in her. He told her that a group of men, approximately a dozen, had come through several times. They had gone door to door scavenging food. He told her about the older teenage kids that had been with them from the start and how the men had taken them away.

  “How many did they take?” Tess asked.

  “Four.”

  “Anything else?”

  “They told us not to go anywhere. We aren’t allowed to scavenge. They took what food we had and said this was their territory. They told us to stay put, that if we went scavenging, it was the same as stealing from them.”

  “How long ago was this?”

  “Two weeks ago.”

  Tess looked at Devin. His only response was a raised eyebrow.

  “How can you help us? Those men were mean. I don’t want them to come back and hurt us.”

  “We will take care of you. We’ll give you each an MRE for tonight, but tomorrow we go looking for food,” Tess said, her tone lowered. She reached out and rubbed Alex’s shoulder. This time he didn’t flinch.

  He nodded and said, “Okay.”

  “Devin, you heard the deal. Get these boys another box of MREs,” she said and turned back to Alex. “Tomorrow we go out and find some food.”

  “What if they come back?” Alex asked.

  “Well, it’s an easy solution. If they come back, we’ll kill them,” Tess replied.

  Outside Livermore, Colorado

  As she sat rubbing her belly, the soft wind gently blew Lori’s thick brown hair. Once again she found herself enjoying the old wooden rocker on the front porch of their new home. She and Travis had discovered the abandoned ranch house following their narrow escape from Horton and his minions at the Denver International Airport. Her afternoons on the porch were the only moments she felt any peace and she was grateful for them. She had given up on getting any real sleep; thankfully the house not only provided sanctuary but came fully stocked with food, water, medicines, firearms and melatonin, a natural sleep aid, which she took regularly to help her get what little sleep she could. When she did close her eyes and drift away, she would soon be met with recurring nightmares.

  Travis had been a Godsend for her, for without him she didn’t think she and her unborn baby would have survived. Immediately upon finding the house, he set to making it perfect for her. The first task was securing it as best he could. He created a safe room and stocked it just in case Horton or other undesirables came knocking. His inventory of the stores came back positive, but they weren’t infinite. They’d be able to survive for approximately nine months; then they’d have to resupply. Another positive of the property they came into possession of was that the previous occupants had a garden and a large supply of seeds. By Travis’s estimates, the house sat on approximately ten acres; this was a rough count as he walked the fenced property. On these ten acres there was the main ranch house, a single-level three-thousand-square-foot wood-sided house; the outbuildings included a two-thousand-square-foot barn and two smaller sheds. The metal barn was full of equipment, including a tractor, three quads, three snowmobiles, countless tools and other items that could come in handy. It was like they had hit the lottery when they stumbled upon the place. Even the men’s clothing they had found fit him properly, allowing him to get rid of his Marine uniform. However, Lori was realistic and knew what good fortune they had would not last forever.

  The issues that hadn’t come up but needed to were her pregnancy, the status of her husband, David, and son, Eric, and his fiancée. He hadn’t talked about her much, but she felt he had to be consumed with her condition. She had decided that today would be the day they’d begin to hash out these issues and begin to make a plan to figure them out.

  One of the reasons she had been successful professionally was she wouldn’t let things lie. If something had to be taken care of, she’d set to doing it. The past weeks had been a nice vacation from reality, but they couldn’t sit there forever, and if her baby were to be given a chance to survive, she needed the vaccine, R-59.

  As the sun was meeting the horizon, ending another day, she decided they would have the talk.

  “I’m so tired,” Travis said as he plowed into the large plate of pasta she had prepared him.

  She sat across from him at the small round dining table centered in the large open kitchen and just played with her food. She was nervous about discussing the topics but knew it had to happen. Lori had a way about her that sometimes could create drama when there was no drama. She was fully aware of this trait, so she thought long and hard about how to address the sensitive issues.

  “Um, Travis, I think we need to talk,” Lori said as she swirled pasta around her fork.

  The yellowish orange glow from the candles created bouncing shadows, and many would have found the scene almost romantic in its nostalgia, but for Lori it was disturbing in an odd way.

  She watched as the shadows grew and subsided along with the flames’ movements.

  Travis heard her and murmured, “About what?” his mouth full of food.

  “I didn’t want to talk about these things while you were busy getting the house ready and setting us up, but we need to discuss what might be some touchy thing
s.”

  He looked up from his plate for the first time and said, “I’m a big boy; go ahead.”

  With an awkward smile, she said, “First, my husband and son. I’m obviously concerned for them. Have you thought about what we can do to help them?”

  He wiped his mouth off with the paper napkin, took a large drink of water, and said, “I have thought about it, and the reason I haven’t wanted to talk about it was because I don’t think there’s much you can do for them.”

  “Nothing?”

  “No, think about it. Everything you told me about the chancellor makes me think he has either killed them or is holding them close, hoping he can use them if you ever return. That’s what I would do. He has no leverage against you except your family. There’s no advantage for him to kill them, but that’s not to say he hasn’t because…”

  “Because why?”

  “Because you pissed him off.”

  Lori exhaled deeply. “I had no choice. I had to run. I couldn’t just wait around to get them. It’s all my fault if anything bad happens to them. I didn’t mean for this to happen, it just did. How was I supposed to know?”

  “Lori, don’t beat yourself up. Of course you didn’t mean for this to happen; it just happened. You have an obligation to protect your unborn child.”

  “Do I? I mean, sometimes I think I’m taking a huge risk here. What if, what if I have a miscarriage? Then this whole thing is for what? Nothing.” She began to cry and then realized that she was trying to upset him, but she was the one who was.

  “You had your reasons; you made the decision. You can’t go back and try to make the decision again. The only thing we can do now is find a way to make it all work. I’m glad we’re talking about this stuff. To be honest, I was thinking about a good time to bring it up. I just didn’t want to upset you, but it looks like I already did.”

  “No, no, it’s not you, it’s me. I’m hormonal.”

  “Oh, I thought that was just being a woman,” he responded in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  “Ha, ha, funny guy,” she said, a slight smile on her tear-covered face.

  “There she is, I like your smile.”

  “I’m so frustrated; I don’t like not having a plan. I hate feeling helpless. I want to do something for David and Eric.”

  “At the moment I don’t see what you can do that wouldn’t risk the baby.”

  “Okay, let’s talk about the baby. I need that drug. I need to get my hands on the R-59. How are we going to do that?”

  “Of course, me and my infinite wisdom have come up with a possible plan for that,” he said, leaning back and showing a bit of bravado in his arm movements.

  “You’re being corny.”

  “You see, that’s one of the differences between military and civilians. You civvies get so worked up over stuff. We’re so used to sphincter-clenching situations that we can make fun and laugh them off. In fact, us warfighters love action; hence why we join.”

  Ignoring his little diatribe, she asked, “What’s your plan?”

  He leaned in, placed his elbows on the table, and said, “There is one thing Marines pride themselves on and that is the love of their brother Marine. When we fight, we fight for the man next to us. I just need to get to one of my good friends and I can get the vaccine.”

  He paused and grinned.

  She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. “That’s it?”

  “In a nutshell.”

  “That’s not a plan, that’s a concept.”

  “Oh, you want operational details?”

  “Yes!”

  “You don’t need them; in fact, I’d rather have you not be in the know.”

  “Don’t be stupid. I don’t want you risking your life if you don’t have a plan, so please indulge me.”

  “Since you insist,” Travis said and began to detail his plan. He told her about a good friend, another captain he went to officer candidate school with, who was part of a unit that provided physical security assistance to the DHS’s FEMA camps in Region VIII.

  Hearing this, she asked, “How do you know where he is specifically, and how do you know he has R-59?”

  “I don’t know exactly where he is, but I know he operates from a forward operating base south of Rapid City, South Dakota. As the camps grew, they pulled assets from the military to provide support. His light armored unit was tasked with providing additional security.”

  “Do you know exactly where this base is?”

  “I have a good idea.”

  “How do you know you can make it?”

  “I don’t.”

  “How do you know he’ll help you?”

  “I don’t, but do we, do you have a choice? I have to go and get that vaccine for the baby. Fortunately for us, we have time, but I need to leave soon.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “As you know, I have a fiancée out there somewhere. Now that I’m retired, I need to go find her, but I feel obligated to you as well.”

  Lori reached across the table and took his hand. “Travis, I’ve been thinking, and I just don’t feel right that I’m here with you while the love of your life is somewhere out there.”

  “I don’t like it either, but these are the sacrifices we military types make when we join. I gave an oath to defend the country, and now that country is gone. Next thing I know, I’m here with you. I have an obligation to make sure you and the baby are safe.”

  “I should go with you.”

  “No, it’s not safe out there.”

  “But how? I can’t stay here by myself.”

  “Lori, I’m almost done making this place run on its own. I won’t be gone that long. Once I return with the vaccine, maybe then we can talk about you joining me as I look for Tess, but I don’t feel right having you come with me now.”

  He placed his other hand on top of hers and squeezed it. He enjoyed her company and found her attractive, but his endearment for her had changed from a simple attraction to one of responsibility for her care and well-being. He would never tell her, but he didn’t look at her as a woman he should attempt to covet, but one he needed to protect.

  Lori bit her tongue; she was so use to getting her way and arguing her point of view ad nauseam till she got it. He had been so helpful and gracious; how could she argue with his plan? And she thought he was right; staying there was the best option for her baby.

  The clunk of a car door closing startled them.

  Travis whipped his head in the direction of the noise and listened intently.

  “Did you—” she started to ask.

  “Sshh,” he snapped, and then blew out the candles.

  Several more car doors slamming echoed from outside.

  He bolted from the table, grabbed a pistol and her arm.

  “Huh?”

  “To the safe room!”

  She just let him take charge.

  They ran down the hallway and darted into the first door on the left, an office. He slid open the closet door, shoved the hanging clothes aside, and pushed against the paneling. A four-by-four-foot piece popped out from the force of his push; it was being held by a magnetic hinge.

  “Get in!” he ordered.

  She did just as he commanded and crawled through the opening. The safe room was a small three-foot-wide by seven-foot-long space. He had created it by taking space from the office closet and the adjacent bedroom’s closet. He had built faux walls using materials he had found in the barn. Once inside, a person could hide relatively comfortably. In the floor of the space there was a trap door that led to the crawl space beneath the house; there he had created a route to escape. Both the room and the crawl space had food, water, firearms, flashlights, blankets, extra clothing and toiletries—specifically an item that Travis was all too aware was often overlooked in the field, toilet paper and a bucket to go in.

  “Everything you’ll need is in here for up to a week. I’ll come get you when it’s all clear,” he said, placing the paneling back
up.

  “Hold on,” she said urgently.

  He stopped and looked at her cuddled up inside. “What?”

  “Be safe.”

  “I always am,” he answered, gave her a wink, and sealed her in.

  She put her head between her knees and began to pray.

  Travis put everything back to make it look like a closet and went to the main living room window to look out. Once there, he saw two pickup trucks near the barn in the dim light of the rising moon but no sign of anyone. His heart was racing, and his instincts told him it was a matter of moments before he encountered someone. He knew the best way to survive this type of situation was to lie in wait. His Marine Corps training had taught him that the odds for a defender were nine times better than someone on the offense. With this knowledge, he took up a position in the far bedroom. As he sat in the darkness, he longed for a pair of night-vision goggles, but he used his other senses and listened intently.

  His ears perked when he heard unintelligible talking down near the barn. He imagined they were just scavengers and probably didn’t want a fight, but if it were to come to it, he was determined to win.

  As he patiently waited for them to come to the main house, he thought about Lori and their discussion earlier; soon his thoughts turned to Tess. Not a day had gone by that she didn’t cross his mind. He missed her and in some ways wished he hadn’t gotten entangled with Lori, but he just went with his gut. Like he told Lori earlier, he put it out of his mind, because you can’t relive the past, you can only learn from it.

  Unaware of how much time had elapsed, the moment he knew would come came, and it came with a crash. The front door burst open in an explosion of force. The sounds of broken glass and wood reverberated down the hall. He steadied his breathing and positioned the shotgun across the footboard of the bed. The Remington 870 pump-action shotgun had a twenty-inch barrel with an extended tube. He was ready for whatever they could bring, and was confident he’d be successful.

  The voices of the people echoed off the walls and down the hall.

  Lori sat shaking in her safe room. When she heard the door explode, she quickly scrambled and grabbed the revolver that she had seen sitting on a box. The small room was so dark she couldn’t see anything, and the sensation of being immersed in darkness added to her fear. She focused on steadying her breathing and remaining calm.