United States Of Apocalypse (12 page)

N
ot long after
the destruction of Boston, Mike went from the one being comforted to the one offering comfort. It was a role he wasn’t quite ready to fulfill, but needs dictated otherwise. Tynes had generously offered Mike his bedroom while he stayed in the guest room. It had been nearly a week, and Mike had not done much except occasionally eat dinner and hold the cat, who genuinely seemed all right with that. Electricity outages had become the norm, and while it was on, Tynes would cook.

They sat at the kitchen table, Mike absently putting raviolis into his mouth while staring into space. This was one of the few times they’d had power on for more than two hours. Both had made sure to take showers, although Mike had to be reminded gently that perhaps he was now dirty enough that this was something he needed to do, especially since he was sleeping in the Tynes’ bed.

Landlines had been a complete loss and cell reception had been nearly as bad. When the phone rang, both men hesitated at the rare sound. Tynes shot up as if he were a sixth-grade math teacher who’d just sat on a tack. He raced into the living room, oblivious that he’d dropped his plate onto the floor. Mike noticed that Baggie seemed to be particularly fond of Alfredo sauce. He could hear Tynes in the other room.

“Linda? Linda? Is that you? Margery? What? Slow down—I can’t understand you.” There was a pause. “You’re cutting out. Tell me again what’s happening. Where’s Linda?” A longer silence. Mike stood up and went to the archway between the kitchen and living room. Tynes had the phone gripped tight enough in his right hand that the screen began to twist, buckle, and then crack. He let his arm fall to his side, his hand opened and the phone clattered to the floor. Tynes slid down the wall, his legs splayed out in front of him. His head hung low; Mike could not have missed the heavy tears that threatened to fall from the corners of the man’s eyes.

“What’s going on? Is…is she dead?”

“She’s been hurt. She was trying to come home—thickheaded woman. She’s in the hospital.”

“She’ll be okay, man.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“She’s got to be tough. She’s married to you.” Mike sat down next to Tynes.

“I should be there with her.” Tynes looked on the verge of tears again.

For a long time, neither said anything. Eventually, Mike reached his hand out and grabbed Tynes’ clutched one. They sat that way for nearly three hours. Baggie joined them, though he slept for most of it.

D
arlene
, sitting on the tree stand, at first thought a deer had wandered into her line of sight. She raised the rifle and looked through the scope, trying to find the movement near the creek.

It was two men, and they were hunched over and coming fast.

Darlene put her finger near the trigger but didn’t shoot.

In the last week and a half since they’d cleared out the trees, John had come around enough to take a shift on guard. It rotated, with one person in the stand to guard the rear and one on the porch to watch the road. The third man slept six hours before relieving someone. It was an unspoken rule that Herbert didn’t have to climb the tree.

There was just enough moonlight for Darlene to use to her advantage. Both men were armed and wearing dark clothing. They slowly hopped the fence and started moving through the field, heading straight for the house.

Darlene knew if she fired it would set a war into motion, but what choice did she have?

She scanned the creek again to see if there were any stragglers or anyone watching the approach. Once she fired, she’d be a sitting duck if they knew where the blast came from.

When she didn’t see anyone else lingering, she waited until the two men were far enough away with their backs to her. It might be a cowardly move, but she couldn’t chance the one she didn’t hit getting a shot off, and she was assuming her first shot would find the target.

“Dad, help me with my aim,” she whispered.

Darlene was about to kill a man or at least wound him. She closed her eyes, counted to three in her head, and knew what she had to do. She inched the rifle’s angle down so she could hit one of them in the leg rather than kill him. If she was quick enough she could incapacitate both of them quickly.

She hesitated. The two silhouettes were getting farther away and closer to the house. Within seconds, she might miss her chance at not be able to get the shot. She wasn’t nearly as accurate with a rifle as she was with the Desert Eagle at closer range.

Despite the cool night air, she was sweating.

Darlene gauged how fast they were moving. If they got too far and she missed, they would run up to the house and put everyone inside in danger.

Stop wasting time and pull the damn trigger
, she thought.

Darlene fired and saw the man fall to the ground, his partner immediately dropping to one knee and looking around. She could tell he had no idea where the shot had come from.

Before John or Herbert could come out to investigate, Darlene lined up the other man’s knee and fired. The shot was high and punched him in the chest.

Shit.

Darlene scanned the area with the scope one more time to make sure there were no surprises before climbing down and going to the two men, ready to shoot if she saw any movement.

She shone her flashlight once quickly, followed by two more flashes. Her message was returned backwards from the house, telling her John or Herbert was on his way.

Neither man moved. Darlene held her breath and turned on the flashlight beam, shining it into where she thought their eyes would be. In the event they were playing possum, she could momentarily blind them.

They were both dead.

“Good shots,” John said as he approached at a jog.

“I didn’t mean to kill them.”

The first man she’d hit had taken a bullet to the back of his neck, most likely killing him instantly. The second man had been hit in the chest and through his heart. Two great shots to kill, even though Darlene had been aiming to wound.

“We need to move them to one of the barns,” John said.

Darlene could hear Herbert running from the house now.

“I didn’t aim to kill anyone,” Darlene said.

“Well, you did. And I’m glad you killed them, Darlene. Better than waking up to the sounds of men shooting women and children or never waking up again,” John said.

He stooped and began going through the first man’s pockets, putting the man’s weapon off to the side.

“Who is it?” Herbert asked, panting.

Darlene shined the light at the two bodies.

“Not the Sawyer brothers.” Herbert pointed at the one with the neck wound. “Jerry Shines, a second cousin to the Sawyers. This other one is a Sawyer, but another cousin. Willie. Damn Sawyers were too chicken to come themselves, so they sent these two idiots to see what our defenses were.”

“They know about the tree stand then. I’m sure there’s at least one of them out there,” John said. He reached over and took the flashlight from Darlene, who was staring at the two bodies. He turned it off. “We need to get them to the barn and out of the open field. I don’t feel like being shot.”

Herbert went to Darlene and hugged her. “I’m sorry it’s come to this. Can you hold it together a few more minutes? I need you to help us.”

Darlene thought she was holding it together, but when she touched her face it was wet. She’d been crying. “What do you need me to do?”

“Get back in the tree and make sure no one comes to get their kin. There might be a second attack tonight, and I don’t want to be caught carrying a body and unable to fight back,” Herbert said.

Darlene went back up into the tree and stifled a sob with her hand. She needed to be strong for the next few hours, at least until it was daylight.

She scanned the terrain outside the fence but didn’t see any movement. She wished they had infrared binoculars or scopes. Maybe Herbert knew where to find a couple.

Between looking through the scope for trouble, Darlene cried. She kept shoving her hand over her mouth whenever possible, and both of her sleeves were drenched.

She needed a good cry, for the men she’d killed and her dad and the situation and John’s wife and everyone dead in the world and—

“I’m coming up. Don’t shoot,” Herbert said.

“No, I’ll come down.” Before Herbert could protest, Darlene climbed down and met him on the ground. “I haven’t see anyone, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t there or weren’t there before I killed those two men.”

“Two men planning to kill all of us,” Herbert said.

“Are you done with the bodies? What do we do? Bury them?”

“I’m not sure. I’d hate to put them in the ground and then have to explain to their families why we hid them. But we can’t let them sit in the hot barn for more than a few days, either. I’m not sure just yet,” Herbert said.

“Why are they doing this?” Darlene asked, more to herself.

“Because they’re as scared as we are. They weren’t prepared for anything like this. No one was.”

“You were.”

Herbert shook his head. “Not really. I stored enough food for Pheebz and I for a few weeks. Nothing significant. We’re eating nice meals now because my wife is scared to death and the only thing that calms her is cooking. But soon enough we’ll be wondering what else my sister has to eat. The berries and fruit on the land will come in handy.”

“I’ll go back up and watch until it gets light out. I doubt they’ll come back during the day,” Darlene said.

“John will take the next shift. He wants to get up there. Between you and me, John was a little disappointed you got to fire at them. I think something in the man’s head isn’t right. I didn’t know him too well before, just his brief visit, but he came back dark. Real dark.” Herbert shifted back and forth on his feet. “I think I’ll go to the porch for a bit and you can get some sleep.”

“There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep,” Darlene said. “You look exhausted. I’d rather sit on the porch and cry for a bit. Get it all out. It will be quieter and more private for me. Doing it in the living room on the couch will just wake everyone anyway.”

Herbert looked up at the tree. “Alright. I’m not going to pass up sleep at my age. I’ll let John know to relieve you. Shouldn’t be more than a few minutes. I think he’d argue if you said you wanted back in the tree, anyway.”

Darlene watched Herbert walk away into the shadows before turning and using the scope to scan the area. Down on the ground she couldn’t see much but she didn’t feel like climbing back into the tree and having to come back down when John arrived.

She walked slowly around the trees, listening after each step for any movement.

Something rustled in the woods on the other side of the fence and she froze, searching slowly for a target. The Sawyers hadn’t gone away. They were still out there and waiting for them to drop their guard before launching another attack.

Darlene didn’t want to kill anyone else tonight, or any night.

She took three quick steps, glad there was nothing underfoot to make a sound. She leaned against a tree and steadied herself, moving the scope slowly to see what was out there.

What if it was five or six armed men this time? What if they’d had enough? Now that they knew they had lost the element of surprise, why wouldn’t they simply rush the farm and take a chance?

Now Darlene wished she’d gone up into the tree. She could see who was approaching and how many there were, and get the first shot off to warn John and Herbert.

Someone climbed over the fence, holding their weapon over their head and not even trying to hide the noise they were making.

Darlene froze, finger on the trigger. What if this was a trick? They’d sent someone to gauge the response or see where Darlene was hiding? She figured they were all hunters and had infrared scopes. Even now, there could be half a dozen rifles aimed at her head.

“Darlene?” the figure hissed, walking toward the tree.

Darlene panicked and fumbled the rifle in her hands, catching it at the last second before it discharged and hit the ground.

“You still there?”

She sighed and realized it was John. She gripped the rifle and watched him approach.

“Are you an idiot? I almost shot you,” Darlene said.

John stood in front of her and put down his rifle. “I had my gun over my head.”

“I thought it was a Sawyer trying to trick me.”

“I hopped the fence while you and Herbert were talking and searched around. I didn’t see anyone else. There’s a pickup truck parked on the side of the creek not too far from here. My guess is they came in alone or whoever was their backup left,” John said.

Darlene realized she was still gripping the rifle. Her nerves were shot.

“I’ll go up and keep watch,” John said. “You look like shit. You might want to go get some sleep.”

Darlene was about to argue with John because suddenly she didn’t like his attitude. She couldn’t tell any more if she was being oversensitive or if he was talking down to her. It sounded like condescension to her, but it could just be how messed up she felt.

“Fine,” Darlene mumbled and began the long walk back to the house, stopping every few feet to listen to the night. She didn’t think she’d ever feel safe again.

The house and property were too big and unmanageable to defend properly. They’d gotten lucky, but next time the Sawyers could easily hop another fence to the east or west and get right into the middle of the property, and no one would know.

By the time Darlene got to the porch, she was exhausted, and not only from the walking.

Herbert sat in his chair, slowly rocking. He had three rifles within reach and a small pouch in his lap, just visible in the moonlight.

Darlene went to sit down next to him but Herbert put up a hand. “Go lie down. You got all day tomorrow to cry. You really need some sleep.”

“I’m not tired.”

“Bull crap,” Herbert said bluntly. He opened the pouch and stuck two fingers inside, pulling out a dark mass.

Darlene sighed. Sleep did sound good right now.

“Don’t tell Pheebz,” Herbert said and stuffed the mass in his mouth.

“About the shooting and killing?”

Herbert laughed. “No. I mean this.” Herbert held up the bag. “If she found out I was still using chewing tobacco, she’d kill me. I swore to her I quit a long time ago, but with all this happening. I just needed a pinch to calm my nerves.”

“I won’t say anything,” Darlene said. She turned and looked up at the clear night sky. Her hands were shaking.

When she turned back to Herbert, he was staring at her and he looked scared.

“Night,” Darlene said and went inside.