Dust: Before and After (6 page)

Uncertainty:

Dust stared uneasily as four men stepped into the large culvert. He kept Sammy behind him. Todd must have realized that this could also be dangerous as he had disappeared back into the car and was crouched down in the seat. Glancing back and forth, Dust waited to see which one spoke first.

“That was some fancy driving for a boy,” an older man reflected.

Dust noticed that he stopped about four feet away, keeping a safe space between them. The man looked to be in his early fifties. He was partially bald on top and had a weathered face like he had spent most of his life outside in the sun. He was dressed in a pair of faded jeans with a dark red button up shirt and a pair of well-worn boots. There was nothing unusual about the man’s clothing. What caught and held Dust’s attention was the rifle in the man’s hand.

“Thank you,” Dust murmured, shifting to the left a little when another man tried to get a good look at Sammy.

“Where you from?” The man asked.

“South,” Dust replied.

A soft chuckle from another one of the men drew Dust’s attention. He stiffened when the younger man pointed his gun at him. Instinctively, his hands clenched in preparation.

“He doesn’t talk much, does he, Beau?” The young man chuckled.

“Shut up, Alex, and keep your damn gun pointed down,” Beau replied in a curt tone. “How many times do I have to tell you that? You’re going to shoot somebody one of these days.”

“What’s the girl’s name?” Another one of the men asked, trying to get a better look at Sammy.

Dust turned to look at the man with a piercing stare. “Why do you want to know?” He asked.

“Back off, Howard,” Beau said with a wave of his hand. “If you haven’t figured it out, my name is Beau. I’m in charge of the compound. That is Alex, Howard, and Randolph.”

Dust turned to look at each man as Beau pointed to them. He nodded his head to each man, but didn’t say anything. These were the first people other than Sammy and Todd that they’d met. They appeared normal, but then again, so did he. At least, he thought he did. It took a minute for him to realize that Beau was waiting for him to respond in kind. Wiping his right hand down his pant leg, he drew in a deep breath before he spoke.

“I’m Dust,” he said in a husky voice. “This is Sammy. Todd’s in the car.”

Dust watched as Beau nodded and glanced in the car at Todd. Todd murmured a quiet greeting when Dust said his name. His lips tightened when the man looked appraisingly at Sammy before he looked through the back window of the car at the items they had gathered.

“We might as well get back to the compound,” Beau commented. “We got caught out in the storm as well. Randolph and I will ride with you while Alex and Howard drive the trucks.”

“Aw, Beau,” Alex grumbled, shooting Sammy a grin. “I wanted to sit with the girl.”

Beau pursed his lips. “That’s why you are driving the other truck.”

“No,” Dust said in a husky, but determined voice. “We’ll follow you, but no one rides with us.”

“Like hell…,” Alex started to say, but stopped when Beau chuckled.

“No, the boy’s smart. He knows to be cautious. I wish I could say that about some of the others,” Beau commented.

“Others?” Sammy asked, speaking for the first time. “How many others?”

Beau smiled at Sammy. “Ten,” he replied.

“Ten,” Sammy repeated her eyes widening at the thought of there being so many others in one place.

Dust reached back and touched Sammy’s arm. It was just enough for her to know that he wanted her to get in the car. Sammy understood his silent message and slid along the car so that she could crawl through the driver’s side to the passenger’s side. Only when she was safely in the seat did Dust step up to the door.

“We’ll follow you,” he told Beau with a nod of his head.

“Let’s go, boys,” Beau said, jerking his head to the others. “Just drive forward. This ditch goes along for about a half mile before there’s a cutoff where you can drive out.”

Dust nodded and started the car, inching it forward behind the men. He blinked in the bright sunlight. Ahead of him, he could see another large culvert where the other section of road crossed over. It was hard to see what the land above looked like after the tornado. It took a little while for the men to turn the trucks they were driving around. They must have seen the storm coming and headed for the gulch as well, only from the opposite direction.

“Do you think it is safe?” Sammy asked, staring at the two trucks.

“I don’t know,” Dust admitted reluctantly.

“I don’t like this, Sammy,” Todd said, leaning forward. “You couldn’t see the other guy, but he kept staring at you.”

“He wasn’t the only one,” Dust muttered under his breath.

Sammy giggled and reached over to lay her hand on his thigh. An intense wave of possessiveness swept through Dust at her touch. She and Todd were his to protect. Sammy may not have seen Randolph’s intense look, but Dust had. A part of him wanted to take off, just keep heading north, while another part of him wondered if he was just being paranoid.

“Thank you, both of you, for looking out for me,” Sammy replied in a quiet voice. “Why don’t we see what it is like? If we don’t like it, we take off and keep heading north.”

“I think we should do that now,” Todd said in a sullen voice before he sat back in his seat.

Dust looked in the rearview mirror at Todd. The little boy sat with his arms crossed and a mutinous, stubborn pout on his face. He winked at Todd to let him know that he felt the same way. Still, if Sammy wanted to give it a couple of days, it might be worth it. They could all use some decent sleep and a hot meal.

“Todd, hide the food we’ve found under the other stuff,” Dust ordered as another worry struck him.

“Why?” Todd asked, already undoing his seatbelt so he could start moving things around.

“You’re afraid they’ll take our food?” Sammy asked, biting her bottom lip and turning to watch Todd.

Dust nodded. “We just need to be careful. If they take our food, who knows when we’ll find any more,” he said, glancing at her. “I want you and Todd to stay close to me. We can’t let them separate us.”

Sammy nodded. “Okay,” she whispered, glancing back out the front window as they began to slow down.

None of them said anything else as they drew to a stop along a flat area with the remains of several buildings. The truck in the front paused in front of a long half domed building. It looked like it had been half buried on each side except the front.

“What is it?” Sammy asked, leaning forward and bracing her hands on the dash.

Dust shook his head. “I’m not sure,” he muttered, bending forward as well so he could see better. “Just, stay close to me.”

“We will,” Sammy promised, sitting back and resting her hand on his leg again.

Dust swallowed when he saw one of the men open the double doors. He eased his foot off the brake and let the car roll forward behind the other two as they entered the building. There was something about Sammy’s touch that calmed him while at the same time confused him.

He thought about the kiss he had given her earlier. He didn’t know why he had kissed her. Heck, he didn’t even realize what he was doing until his lips touched hers. It had been… amazing! He was startled when he felt a warmth deep inside him and his… Dust glanced down at his lap in shock.

“Dust, stop!” Sammy said, moving her hand to brace against the dash again.

Dust’s head jerked up, and he slammed his foot on the brake just inches from the truck in front of him. He felt his cheeks warm and was thankful for the dark interior of the building so that Sammy couldn’t see him blushing. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, he hoped that the rest of his body returned to normal before it was light enough to see.

“I don’t see no one else,” Todd said, breaking into his thoughts.

Dust looked around the interior of the building. Dozens of large crates were stacked along the walls. Further down, he could see two more trucks parked. They were larger box trucks used for moving and hauling stuff. He reached for the door handle and pushed it opened. Twisting, he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt his body return to normal.

He grabbed the back door when Todd pushed it open and slid out. Closing it, Dust glanced over at Sammy as she got out of the passenger side and closed the door. Reaching down, he pulled the keys out of the ignition and pocketed them before pressing the lock button on the door and closing it.

“This way,” Beau said, nodding his head. “The rest of you unload the trucks and bring the items downstairs.”

“Downstairs?” Sammy whispered, reaching out her hand to grab a hold of Todd’s cold fingers.

Dust blinked. Now, he remembered where he had seen a building like this. It had been in one of his games. He reached out and stopped Sammy when she started to walk ahead of him.

“It’s an old military silo,” he whispered, nodding to the end of the building. They had buildings like this. They must have moved this one in front of the entrance to the silo.”

Fear swept across Sammy’s face and she pulled back, dragging Todd with her. Dust could feel her trembling and she was shaking her head. He slid his hand down her arm and grasped her free hand.

“I’ll be with you,” he promised, squeezing her fingers. “I told you I’d protect you and Todd.”

Sammy visibly swallowed and nodded her head. “I know, but aren’t they really deep? This isn’t like the storm shelter behind the house. This goes way down in the ground, doesn’t it?” She asked in a barely audible voice.

“Come on, Dust,” Beau called out. “I’ll introduce the three of you to the others.”

“Yeah, it does,” Dust responded before he started forward. “Together.”

“Together,” Sammy and Todd murmured at the same time as they stepped up to the narrow staircase leading down into the ground.

Downward:

Dust kept his eyes on the man in front of him. He didn’t like that Alex and Howard had stayed back in the upper area, but he liked it even less that Randolph was walking behind them. There was something about the guy that rubbed Dust the wrong way. It was more than the way he looked at Sammy. There was just a feeling about the guy that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“Are you okay?” Sammy whispered, leaning down over his shoulder on the steps.

Dust squeezed Sammy’s hand and nodded. He didn’t want to talk in the narrow stairwell. They went down several flights before they reached an open doorway. He paused for a moment, taking in the large, circular room. It looked like a command center of some type.

“This way,” Beau said, glancing over his shoulder. “We still have a long way to go. This room is just used for getting ready to go topside.”

Dust nodded. He heard Todd whisper to Sammy in excitement. He also felt the tremble in Sammy’s hand as they moved deeper underground. She was squeezing his fingers to the point they were beginning to grow numb.

“I was stationed here back in the early sixties. After the Cold War ended the government sold these off. I figured it was a good deal, especially since they were selling them real cheap. I’ve been working on remodeling it for the past twenty years. After fragments of the comet hit the Earth, I realized it was the best investment I had ever made,” Beau said, walking down a wide corridor to a thick, red metal door.

“Why didn’t the government warn everybody about the comet ahead of time?” Sammy asked in a husky voice.

Beau turned as he reached the end of the corridor and gazed down at Sammy. A bitter smile curved his lips. Dust watched as Beau pulled on a cord that ran through the wall and paused before he pulled it again.

“What good would it have done?” Beau asked in a soft voice. “All the governments of the world thought the world was about to end. They were too busy trying to save their own asses to give a damn about ours. Besides, it wouldn’t have done anything but cause mass chaos. What is more humane? Telling people that they are going to die or letting them continue on with their daily lives, oblivious to what tomorrow will bring?”

“But, we didn’t all die?” Todd murmured, staring up at Beau. “We’re alive.”

“Yeah, we are,” Beau replied with a smile. “But there are a lot fewer of us than there used to be.”

“Some are different, too,” Randolph muttered behind them.

“That’s enough, Rand,” Beau snapped, turning when the door opened. “Two rings, pause, two rings and someone will open the door.”

Dust nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Rand before he started after Beau. A frown creased his brow as he tried to decipher what Rand was talking about. Did he know about other people like him? If he did, neither he nor Beau looked too happy about it.

The next hour was spent moving from section to section of the old silo. Dust made a mental note in case they needed to find a way out. Unfortunately, it looked like there were only two ways; through the seventy ton doors covering the launch bay or through the door they came through.

“You’ll each be given chores to do,” Beau said as he finally stopped along one section near the bottom. “This floor and the one below it are for sleeping. We’ve put up walls between to give people a bit of privacy. The men sleep here and the women and kids on the section below.”

“Women? Kids? There are more here?” Sammy asked in surprise.

Beau nodded. “Yes, there’s two women and three kids; two boys and a girl,” he explained.

Dust frowned and looked around. “I thought you said there were ten people here,” he said. “That makes nine, counting you, Howard, Alex, and Randolph.”

Beau’s mouth tightened into a flat, hard line. “The other one isn’t any concern of yours. Just stay out of the last area. It is off limits. I’ve got to make sure that Howard and Alex get everything out of the trucks. The cover we’ve built does a good job of protecting them, but the storms can be unpredictable. I want to get as many supplies as we can down below,” he replied. “You can spend today getting familiar with the silo. I’ll have jobs assigned to you starting tomorrow. I’ll send one of the women around to show you to your room, Sammy. Todd, you can stay with Dust.”

Dust moved so that he was standing in front of Sammy. “Sammy should stay with me as well,” he said, staring back at Beau with a frown.

Beau returned his gaze, not saying anything for a moment before he shook his head. “I’m sorry, son, Sammy will have to stay with the other women. It’s the law,” he said with a slight edge to his tone that told Dust he wouldn’t change his mind.

“Whose law?” Dust asked, clenching his right hand by his side.

Beau’s eyes narrowed on Dust’s face. “Mine,” he finally said. “You don’t follow the laws, you are out of here.”

Dust didn’t respond. He could tell the man standing in front of him was serious. Yet, there was a quiet warning in his tone as well.

“Rand will show you where you can get some clothes and bedding and give you a run down on how we do things,” Beau stated, turning away.

Dust watched as Beau disappeared back the way they came. He glanced around the large circular room. It was partitioned into sections with the center set up as a common seating area while the outer parts were sectioned off into rooms.

“You and the boy can use that one,” Rand said stiffly. “It is a little bigger and we can fit another cot into it. Once he gets used to things, he can move into his own room. Alex is on your right and Howard is on the left. I’m next, followed by Beau’s room here on the end.”

Dust nodded, glancing at the second door across the room. It was about as far from the entrance as they could put him. He turned when Rand started to walk by him.

“I’ll show you where the supplies are again,” Rand said. “Then, I’ve got work to do. Dinner is in two hours.”

“Dust has to…,” Todd started to say before he clamped his mouth closed when Dust sharply shook his head in warning.

Rand’s eyes narrowed suspiciously on Dust before he turned that same sharp, intense look on Todd. Dust bit his lip. Something warned him that he shouldn’t say anything about needing to frequently eat.

“Dust has to… what?” Rand asked Todd, turning until he stood facing the boy.

Todd swallowed and looked nervously at Dust. Clenching his hand at his side again, Dust thought about what he could do if the situation became dangerous. If he needed to, he could knock Rand out, grab Todd and Sammy and head back up through the silo. He started when he felt Sammy’s hand on his lower back. For a minute, he had forgotten she was there. She had become very quiet after Beau explained she wouldn’t be allowed to stay with him and her brother.

“Dust has to make sure he stays away from peanuts,” Sammy interjected. “He has an allergy to them.”

“Yeah, he’s allergic to peanuts,” Todd agreed with a nervous grin. “Isn’t that right, Dust?”

Dust relaxed and nodded. “I break out,” he said.

Rand stared back and forth between the three of them before he shrugged his shoulders and turned away again. Dust relaxed his fingers when Sammy slid her hand into his. He’d have to remember not to eat anything with peanuts in it even though he loved peanut butter. With a sigh, he started forward.

“As soon as we can, I want to get out of here,” Sammy whispered in his ear. “This place doesn’t feel right.”

A relieved smile curved Dust’s lips and he gave a brief nod. Sammy released his hand when a woman stepped into the room and gave her a nervous smile. It took everything inside Dust not to protest when the woman who said her name was Maria led Sammy away.

His gaze followed her until Rand started to explain what he was allowed to get out of the supply room. Nodding, Dust decided that tonight, he was going to have to do a little exploring after the others were asleep. He’d start with the very bottom floor.