Instinct (23 page)

“Yes?” she called. She tucked her book under her sleeping bag and pulled her knees up to her chest.

The flap zipped open and Luke’s head appeared.

“You decent?”

“Come on in,” she said.

It was a process. Luke opened the flap and stood while he untied his shoes. He stepped carefully out of them and left them outside when he stepped into her tent. He sat at the entrance.

She normally had a nice cross-breeze through the vents in the side of her tent. The flow was disturbed by the open flap.

Luke didn’t say anything.

“What’s up?” she asked.
 

“You had a busy day yesterday,” he said.

Judy frowned and nodded.

“Kinda coincidental, yeah?”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

Luke paused, as if carefully considering her perfectly normal question.

“Well, you had the whole encounter in town and then you had the underground exploration.”

“Yeah,” Judy said. Nobody had talked to her about the hatch. She was beginning to think that maybe the two bearded men had left her out of the story. If they really wanted to take full credit, their account might have ignored Judy and Ron completely. Apparently, she wasn’t that lucky.

“I came for two reasons,” Luke said. “One, I want to make sure that you’re not running around telling a lot of tales about either of those events.”

Judy shook her head.

“But you’re not really the type. That part of the conversation was really more for your friend.” He made a motion with his hand of a flapping jaw. All things considered, it was actually a decent impression of Ron. “The second part is for you—do you suspect that the two things might be connected in some way?”

His question surprised Judy. Why would he think the two things were connected? She was pretty much a victim in both.

“You
happen
to discover a malevolent force in the town and then a couple of hours later you
happen
to discover a secret military base that seems to have been dedicated to tracking those types of forces.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m just wondering if maybe one didn’t lead to the other.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“How did you find that underground bunker?”

“I didn’t. Ron found it. I just went down there to see what it was. We thought it might be a bomb shelter of something. I didn’t occur to me that there might be some big secret place under the ground of this perfectly normal farm.”

“There’s nothing normal about this farm. I think we all know that.”

“Pardon?” She hated the way she sounded when she said that, but it was all that she could think to say.

“This place is untouched by those things. There’s something special going on here. Either the people who built that underground base figured a way to repel the monsters, or they chose this place because it naturally repels them. One way or the other, this place is unique.”

“People died on that supply mission,” Judy said. She hadn’t witnessed it herself, but she believed the accounts. “I think there are plenty of monsters around.”

“Over in the town, maybe. But this place is immune somehow. It’s immune to monsters, but not to people. I left this place empty. Then, when we all came back, someone was living here. Who do you suppose she was working with?”

“I don’t know. A man you hand-picked as your envoy put a bullet in her head before she could say much.”

“Some circumstances are hard to plan for.”

Luke seemed to be waiting for Judy to say something, but she didn’t know what. He seemed to be accusing her of something, but she didn’t know what that was either. She couldn’t tell what he wanted from his open expression and the hint of a smile he wore on his lips.

She said the only thing she could think of. “You seem to lose your West Virginia accent when you talk all smart like that. You talk about circumstances, and I wouldn’t guess you’re just a simple mountain man.”

His smile didn’t change.

“What did you learn down there?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “We found out it wasn’t a bomb shelter and then we got lost. I should thank the men who found us. I think I forgot to last night.”

“Ron mentioned you spent quite a while in the war room, reading the documents.”

Either Luke was lying or Ron had been bragging. Either thing was just as likely.
 

“Your men followed us down pretty quick. We didn’t have time to do any more than glance around.”

“What did you see?”

“Maps, mostly. I saw some photos.” She held up the vintage flashlight. “I found this.”

“Do they know about the bunker?” Luke asked.

“Pardon?” Judy frowned. That stupid word again.

“Did they tell you about the bunker? Is that how you knew where it was? Did they send you to collect information so you could take it back to them?” Luke asked his questions rapidly, not giving her any chance to respond.
 

Judy realized that he was reading responses from her face, and he was getting it wrong. He was confirming his errant suspicions somehow in the expression she wore.

“Listen,” she said, “Ron happened to stumble on that place and I went down there strictly out of curiosity. I had no idea what we would find.”

He frowned and narrowed his eyes. After a second, his face broke into an easy smile.
 

“I know you’ve struggled to trust me, Judy. We’ve all been through a lot.”

With such a quick transition, she heard him slipping back into his West Virginia twang again. When he
 
said “to trust me,” it came out more “tah truss me.” He drew a hand back over his shaved head. He lowered his eyes. It was an inviting gesture. It was a gesture that said, “You don’t need to be afraid of me. I’m just a simple, kind-hearted soul.”

When his eyes met hers again, she saw that his smile didn’t quite reach them.
 

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Whaddya mean? You know everything ’bout me, Tib.”

He hadn’t called her that in a long time. “Tib” was a generic endearment he used for any woman he was trying to charm.

“Why do I have the feeling that you knew about the bunker even before Ron found it? Did you also know what we’d find there in the town? Did you send us on that mission to collect information about the monsters there?”

“You need some more rest. Get your head together.”

“Can I leave?” Judy asked. “You always said we had to keep the group together because you didn’t want us to splinter apart as we traveled. Now that we’re here, are we free to go if we want to?”

“Of course y’are, Tib. I suggest you travel at night and stay safe,” he said. “Why don’t you rest up and I’ll get you taken off the rotation.”

He was gone before she could agree or object. For several minutes, Judy sat and stared at the tent flap that he’d zipped behind himself. The conversation had taken such a weird turn. She replayed it in her head over and over, trying to make sense of it.

Judy felt around under her sleeping bag and found her book. She read the same page several times before she gave up. She couldn’t concentrate.
 

The image of Luke asking her, “Did they send you to collect information?” kept playing in her imagination. If she had to guess, that was a the real Luke. That was the Luke that he never let anyone see. And that Luke had
known
things. That Luke appeared to have a sense of an us-versus-them war that was still playing out. She wondered what else he knew and how he’d come to know it.

Judy hid her book again and unzipped her tent. She intended to head for the woods where a team had dug a latrine. The bearded men changed her mind. They sat playing cards a few dozen paces away. One glanced up when Judy left her tent. He said something low to the other one. She began to walk out of the little tent city and she spotted another pair of bearded men standing under the trees at the corner of the pasture. One of the those men glanced in her direction as well.

Judy veered left and headed towards Ron’s tent instead. She thumped the side.

“Hello?” she called. She thumped again.

She unzipped his door and looked inside. All of Ron’s stuff was neat and orderly. Ron kept an organized tent. Nothing was out of place, except Ron. She closed his tent and spun around. It was the middle of the day. He could be anywhere.

Judy headed for the house and checked the chore lists. Luke worked fast. Her name was already scratched off of garden duty and laundry. Luke had made good on his promise to take her off the rotation. In fact, since there were already new people assigned, she guessed he’d done it before he had visited her. She scanned the lists for Ron’s name. He was scratched off as well.

Judy turned for the barns.

The horses were turned out and the stalls were clean. She found a teenage boy hauling a bucket of water and trying to lift it over the wall of the stall to hang it on a hook.

“Let me give you a hand,” Judy said.

“I got it.” The kid almost sounded angry about it.

“Have you seen Ron?”

“He’s not here. I heard on he volunteered for a special detail.”

“Doing what?”

“I don’t know. Something special.”

“If you see him, can you tell him I’m looking for him? My name is Judy.”

“I know your name,” the kid said. He had a look of complete disdain that only a teenager could successfully muster. “I don’t know when I’m going to see him again. Me and my sister have double shifts in the barn because he’s off the rotation. Apparently, we’re the only ones qualified to shovel horse shit.”

“Well, if you do.” Judy walked away.

She paused at the door. Two bearded men just happened to be taking a stroll over near the fence. They just happened to pause when she appeared in the doorway, and one of them just happened to look in her direction.

Judy walked back over to where the boy was pulling buckets from another stall. She grabbed the buckets from the next stall without asking. She followed him out to the place where he dumped the dirty water.

“When do you muck out the stalls again?”

“Tomorrow morning,” he said.

“And where do you dump the shit?”

“There’s a manure pit down that path,” he said. He pointed.

“I’ll do you chores for you tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “We’re not supposed to trade chores. They don’t want just anybody doing the horse chores.”

“I’ve got permission, and I’m not asking you to do my chores. You just sleep in and I’ll take care of it.”

His skepticism was quickly beaten out by his laziness. “You won’t tell anyone?”

“Not a soul.”

Judy helped him fill the rest of the buckets and then found her way out the latrines. She tried to ignore the pairs of bearded men who always seemed to be hovering around her.
 

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When morning came, Judy found her way to the barn as the sun was coming up. Two men sitting on the fence watched her pass. They had cups of steaming coffee and were deep in a conversation, like hanging out on a fence at daybreak was a normal thing to do. When she had passed, Judy glanced back to see that their conversation had mysteriously come to an end as soon as she’d moved out of earshot.
 

The big cart was parked at the end of the aisle. Judy rolled to the first stall and grabbed the rake she’d seen Ron use. Judy opened the first stall door and wheeled the cart inside.

“You’re supposed to put the horse out first,” the kid said.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s dangerous or something.”

“You have a sister?” Judy asked.
 

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it since you said so yesterday. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who had family that was still alive.”

“We’re twins,” the kid said.

“Why does that make a difference?”

“I don’t know.”

“And why are you here?” Judy used the rake to scoop up some of the soiled shavings from the stall. It was a bit like cleaning an enormous litter box.
 

“What do you mean?”

“I said I’d do your chores. Why are you here?”

“We’re not supposed to trade,” the kid said.

“It’s not a trade if I didn’t ask you to do anything.”

“Still.”

While she worked on that stall, the kid began turning out the rest of the horses. She was glad he was there. She never would have been able to get the giant animals to bend to her will the way he did. He just pointed and they ran for the gate.

She moved on to the next stall and he turned out the horse that had eyed her while she cleaned.

“My cart is full,” she said.

“You’re picking up too much,” he said.

“I’ll go dump it.”

She had to keep the cart right on the wheel ruts or it bogged down. Her trip was slow until she figured that out. She saw a pair of bearded men move down the fence on the other side of the pasture. They were keeping time with her. She didn’t mind. There were only so many of Luke’s bearded men.

Judy pushed the cart between the lines of white fence and to the edge of the forest. She saw where the grass was trampled from cartloads just like the one she pushed. It seemed like a long haul for each cartload of shavings. But, then again, it was better than polluting the area next to the barn. Down a short path, she found the pit. Grass grew at the edges, but the center was all fresh shavings and horse shit. She pushed the cart as far as she could and dumped her load.

She couldn’t see the bearded men, but figured they must be keeping an eye on her.
 

Judy left the cart where it was and began walking. She circled the pit and stepped into the woods. The hill sloped down towards the road. She didn’t make any attempt to sneak. The leaves crunched under her feet with each step. She got about a hundred paces downhill from the pit before he called out to her.

“Judy!”

She turned. Luke was up the hill. Even at a distance, she could see the gun holstered to his belt.

“This is a pretty feeble escape attempt,” he said.