The Breadwinner Trilogy (Book 1): The Breadwinner (17 page)

Andrew rubbed Juliette’s shoulders and kissed her forehead.  “It’s not that much further.  You heard Ben, he knows a place where we can stay.”

“Alright.” 

Clyde and Ben finished their smokes while they walked and the thick trees in the setting sun proved to be eerie for everyone.  “I’ll take the city over this shit any day of the week.  Imagine bein’ lost out in that.”  Clyde flicked his cigarette out into the brush.

“Dude, what are you a firebug?”  Ben craned his neck to try and see where the butt landed.

“It just rained.  Plus don’t these new cigarettes go out by themselves?  Annoyin’ as hell.”

Andrew and Ben shook their heads simultaneously.  Ben couldn’t help but look back to check if there was any smoke.  Clyde was right though, the new cigarettes were meant to do the opposite of start fires.  He didn’t need anything else to worry about.

Within the next hour, twilight was taking over the sky and they could see the enormous gates that held the community of Franklin Woods within them.  The houses rose behind the gates like tombstones in a silent cemetery.

“I think it’s an electric gate, how are we gonna get it open with the power being out?”  Clyde turned to look at Ben.

“Well, I’m not an electrician but I’m pretty sure those gates are made with fail safes for instances like this.  Well, not exactly like this, but we do get a lot of hurricanes.”

“Yeah, it’s some legality safety measure.”  Andrew chimed in as Ben walked past him and Juliette toward the gate.  There was no guard in the shed obviously but he had looked out of habit.  He gave the gate a simple pull and it barely budged.  He noticed someone had put a brass pin in place to keep it from opening and wondered if someone in there didn’t want any visitors.  He removed the pin and the gate opened with no problem.

“See?  C’mon it’s getting darker every minute.  We don’t know what’s in these woods.”

Ben ushered everyone through the gate and closed the heavy thing behind him, replacing the pin where it once was.  They walked quietly up the street, passing two badly mangled cars that were nearly in the house’s driveway.

“Man, if I lived there I’d be pissed as hell with this shit in front of my house.”  Clyde took a peek inside one of the cars and made a face.

“I’m pretty sure nobody lives there anymore.  Keep moving.”  Andrew pushed his brother forward.

“I just saw a light in that house.”  Juliette stopped walking and pointed at the enormous home with the wrecked cars in front of it. 

“C’mon baby doll, there’s nobody there.  It’s ok.”  Andrew put his arm around her. 

The first street was a huge circle that led back to the front entrance and exit.  One way in, one way out of Franklin Woods.  Sal’s house was on one of the roads off of the main circle.  Ben knew where the key was and retrieved it before the others climbed the steps to the front door.  He ran up the steps and unlocked both locks, sticking his head in and calling out, hopefully there were no surprises waiting for them in there.  After about ten seconds he was satisfied that the house was empty and the other three joined him inside.  They had plenty of food with them but Sal always kept a stocked pantry.  Everyone had their own bed to sleep in that night and Ben never prayed, but he did thank Sal and Lucy, wherever they might be, for a place to stay.

VII

They all slept in the next morning, embracing the comfort and mild sense of safety of the empty neighborhood.  It was after 11am when Ben woke up.  He hated to do it but didn’t want to use the toilet.  Opening the window and sticking his head out, he took a quick look around to make sure no one from the house had wandered into the yard before enjoying a nice, long morning piss.  Sal would have gotten a kick out of it.  Lucy, not so much.

He cleaned himself up and got dressed.  Today they would look for Veronica.  Ben thought about maybe staying in Sal’s place for a little while.  If it proved to be safe then they just needed to get some supplies and board up the windows to make sure no unwanted visitors found them inside.  They could go from house to house and see what goodies might be there and they might just have struck gold with deciding to come here.  He walked downstairs and Juliette was sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking a warm energy drink.

“I would have made coffee, but I’m not really sure how to do that without power.” 

“It’s the thought that counts.”  Ben looked around the rest of the house now that there was daylight.  Sal really had everything a man could need and most of it, other than the food, was useless during a
time like this.  Too bad he didn’t have a generator.  Maybe they could find one and bring it back here.  After a while longer Andrew and Clyde joined them downstairs and they discussed the day’s plan.

“We wasted the whole morning.”  Andrew was relaxed on the lush white sofa.  “Franklin isn’t very spread out once you get to either town or the bay, it’s just the couple miles between here and there that are pretty irritatin’ without transportation.  By the time we’re done with town and head back, I’m sure it’ll be dark already.”

“This area seems a lot safer than the city, I know there are a lot of woods and cover that things can be hiding in, but that’s also something to take into consideration.  If we need to, we can use those woods to our advantage.  Plus it was pretty much dark when we got here last night and there was no incident.  I can’t wait another day.  She could be in trouble, she could be here, she could be gone, we don’t know.”

“Alright man, I got you.  Clyde?  Any thoughts?”  His brother sat across from him, sprawled out on the matching white loveseat.  He shook his head.

“So let’s get our shit together and head out then.  We don’t have to bring much, we’re coming back here so let’s spread it out in case any scavengers show up.”

Andrew hopped up from the sofa, “Good idea.  Juliette?  Do you want to help?”

“Sure, I obviously didn’t have a choice on whether or not I was going so I might as well.”  She rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room.

It took about a half hour to make sure that all of their things were hidden and spread out about the house.  It might have been an unnecessary precaution but they didn’t want to take any chances.  The sun was high in the sky when they left the house and a soft breeze greeted them on the street.  They passed the house with the wreck once more and Ben felt a sense of unease about the place.  Juliette might have been a little crazy, but what if she did really see a light?  And who put the pin in the gate?  The pin he had just been thinking about was in fact still in the gate when they arrived at the entrance/exit.  They left Franklin Woods and took a right toward town.

It didn’t take much longer than an hour to realistically arrive in town at their slow walking pace but Andrew was right, the walk there was full of nothing but trees and made it feel as if though time was standing still.  They didn’t want to split up but figured they would cover more ground that way.  Andrew and Juliette visited the local pharmacy, gathering what more supplies they could.  It was nothing like the CVS in the city, the place had been ransacked but they were able to at least scrounge a few things.  Ben had requested more lighter fluid.  He wanted to stock up so they would be able to make a fire for cooking or to stay warm if they needed to.  Clyde and Ben scoped out the grocery store but that too had been cleared out.  Except for a few shambling eaters, they hadn’t run into many of the dead, so their work load was pretty light.  After checking a few more small random stores here and there they met up at the police station. 

“There isn’t anything left here, but it’s worth a check to see if your girl’s hiding out.”

They were in and out within twenty minutes.  Andrew and Hank had taken anything useful that was left when they took off for the city and so the only thing left to do was to search it for Veronica.  They called out, trying not to be too loud and attract unwanted attention.  They did this in several more establishments and finally the sun was getting ready to set.  The only places left to search were some small houses, an apartment complex and the high school down the road.

“There’s too many places left to search today.  We’ll come back down here tomorrow and look.”

Ben was frustrated, but then again she might not have even come here.  She may have gone straight to the bay.  He silently resented himself for not opting to go to the bay before checking the town.  “I really don’t think she’s in any of those houses.  We check the high school and then we check the bay.  Tonight.  We shouldn’t have come here first.”

“I’m tired of walking.” 

“Juliette, it’s gonna be fine.  We’re almost done.”  He kissed her on her forehead and then turned to Ben.”  Look man, I don’t think you want to go down to that high school.  Last time I was there that place was crawlin’ with those motherfuckers.”

“You said it yourself, they move on when there’s no people.  Sure we see some stragglers here and there but they’re probably just too slow to keep up with the fast ones.  I want to check the high school, we’re already here, and we’ve already wasted our time.  Plus she was in high school right?  Maybe she might have felt safe there or something, maybe try and find some kids her age?  I don’t know.  But I’m not going to head back after searching all day and finding nothing.”

“Ben, dude, she’s probably down by the bay already.”  Clyde joined in on an attempt to talk Ben out of going to the high school.  He hadn’t seen what Andrew had that day, but he had no intention of finding out for himself.

“We already came this far into town, what could it hurt to go down to the school?  And besides, if she did go down to the bay, where would she be hiding out?  What would she consider safe there?”  Ben had both hands clasped behind his head, his blonde hair drenched in sweat.  He shook his head and his irritation showed.  They didn’t notice Juliette slip away from the group and begin walking down the road toward the high school off in the distance.

“I don’t know man, maybe she’s in a boat?  There are a ton of boats down there.  Oh, and a restaurant.  Now that I think of it, the restaurant owners even got their own boat, maybe she found the keys and took off man.  I mean, I hope not.  But, we don’t know anything.  You said it yourself you weren’t sure if you’d even find her man.”  Clyde had taken his own pack of cigarettes from Ben’s stash and lit two up as his brother spoke. 

“I know.”  Ben took the cigarette Clyde offered him and exhaled loudly.  “I know, I just don’t want to lose anyone else.  I feel like I should have found her already.”

“Veronica! Veronica!!”  The three men were stunned as they heard Juliette screaming from down the street.  “Veronica!  It’s time to come out now, Veronica!” 

“Holy fuckin’ shit!”  Andrew raced off in her direction followed by Clyde and Ben.  “Stop it Jules, stop screamin’!”  Andrew called out to her but she either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him.  Her persistent yelling at the top of her lungs was met with a loud cry from up ahead.

Ben and Clyde stopped dead in their tracks. More wild cries echoed in response to the first. “Oh no, oh shit no.  Drew, let’s go man!  Grab that bitch and let’s haul ass!”

Andrew reached Juliette and shook her wildly.  “What are you doing?  Baby, stop yellin’ like this, you’re gonna get us all killed!”  Juliette laughed hysterically.

“I was doing my part.”  She giggled uncontrollably.

“Yeah you sure helped us out!”  Clyde yelled at her.  “I’m gone man, I’m outta here.”

The cries persisted in the distance and Ben’s hair stood up on the back of his neck.  “I’m not doin’ this shit twice in one week.  Let’s go, head to the police station before they see us.”

They ran for the station and got inside without incident.  Andrew bolted the door and they ducked down as they ran for one of the offices.  “Stay in here, I’m gonna have a look.”  Juliette still giggled to herself.  “Please, baby, please stop laughin’, this shit ain’t funny.” 

“Ok.”  She still had the smile on her face but her laughter stopped. 

Clyde stared Juliette down.  “You know I could kill you right?  You keep up your crazy ass shit and you’ll end up dead.”

“Clyde, I don’t-“ Ben came to her defense for the first time.

“No, you keep out of this.  This is between me and her.  You hear me you crazy bitch?  You will end up dead, whether my brother likes it or not.  Somebody or something is gonna kill your ass.”  Clyde left the room to look for Andrew.  Ben looked over at Juliette and she just sat expressionless on the floor like a lump of clay.

He joined the other two in the lobby, crouched on the floor trying to get a good view over the desk in front of them.  The dead’s chilling screams could be heard and their feet slammed against pavement as they frantically ran around the streets in front of the station, searching for the living.

“Too dumb to chew through a bag right?”

“I can only hope I’m right Andrew.”

VIII

Two hours had passed and the dead seemed to retreat back to whatever place they came from.  Andrew was convinced they all came from the high school.  He was more than sure that he’d seen the faces of the local kids on the creatures.  It was dark now and they had left Juliette by herself, not wanting her to hear them speak, they went into another office and shut the door.  Andrew didn’t want to leave but Clyde was dead set on getting back to Franklin Woods that night.

“I’m not spending the night out here with her.  No way.”