Escaping Home (23 page)

Jess suddenly sat up in the bed. Her hair was a mess and she looked like hell.

“I need to take a shower,” she croaked.

Fred and Mary both jumped to their feet and helped her out of bed.

“How do you feel?” Mary asked, holding a pair of pants open so Jess could step into them.

“I don't want to talk about it.”

Mary nodded and together, she and Fred helped Jess dress. Jess moved slowly, in obvious pain. At the door she paused, looking at them. “I need you two to come with me.”

They helped Jess make her way to the showers and waited outside for her. She was inside for a long time. Mary checked on her once, concerned with how long she was taking. Jess reemerged in a clean change of clothes. The return trip was silent, the only thing to talk about being unpleasant.

Back at the room Jess sat on her bed staring at the floor, Fred and Mary sat at the table watching over her. After a few minutes, Fred cleared her throat. She needed Jess to talk.

“I'm not going to tell you I know what it feels like because I don't, but I do know what it feels like to come close.” Jess looked at her with the slightest bit of curiosity written on her face. Fred took a deep breath. “Out on the trip, some guy tried to take advantage of me, but Aric stopped him. So, I can relate, sorta.” Mary reached over and squeezed Fred's hand.

Jess nodded and looked back at the floor. Fred continued, “Do you know who it was, or even what he looked like?”

Jess looked up slowly. “I'll
never
forget his face.” Her tone wasn't one of fear or even pain—it sounded like resignation, which only made Fred more eager to take action.

“Can you point him out? Does he come to breakfast here?”

“I'm never going back in that tent again, ever.”

Fred dropped down on the floor, resting her hands on Jess's knees. “Look, he isn't going to get away with this. I'm going to take care of it, I promise. I just need to know what he looks like.”

Jess let out a short huff. “How? How are you going to do anything? Apparently
no one
can do anything in this fucking camp.”

Fred snatched the can from the table and held it up.

“What, you're going to try and kill him with throat cancer? Yeah, that ought to do it.”

Fred looked at the can. “Did you know this stuff has, like, twenty times the nicotine of cigarettes?”

Jess shrugged. “So?”

“So I know how to get it out. I can put it in this asshole's morning coffee, and bam, he's dead almost immediately.”

Jess looked up, cocking her head to the side. “How do you know that?”

“Let's just say my dad had an interesting library.”

“How would it kill him?” Mary asked.

“Basically, it'll look like his heart exploded. It's not like they are going to do an autopsy on him when he falls over at breakfast.”

“You're sure this will work?” Jess asked.

“Positive. I've seen it done.”

“Your dad killed someone like this?” Mary asked excitedly.

“No, he didn't kill anyone, at least, not that I know of. He did it to a rat, just to see if it really worked.”

“And it did? What'd it look like?”

“Yes, it did, and let's just say it looked very unpleasant.”

“Who does something like that in front of their daughter?” Mary asked, more to herself than out loud.

Fred shot back, “Look, I was raised by my dad. My mom ran off when I was three. He was my best friend and he taught me a lot of stuff, from working on cars to how to reload a gun. You name it, we did it.”

“Like making poison,” Jess said with a smirk.

“Exactly. Don't question it. All I need is for you to point him out.”

“I can't, I can't do it.” Jess paused and pointed at Mary. “But she can.”

Mary did a double take. “Me? How can I do it? I didn't see him.”

“Yes, you did. That day we were walking back and a man hassled us?” Her voice shifted to a barely audible whisper. “That's who it was.”

Mary's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Him! He's the one?”

Jess didn't respond. Fred looked at Mary. “Could you recognize him?”

Mary nodded. “Yep. He's got a mustache, like the guy on that old show in Hawaii, with the helicopter.”

“
Magnum, P.I.
?”

Mary smiled tightly. “Yeah, that's it.”

“Good, then tomorrow, you'll point him out.”

“How do you get it out?” Jess asked. “The nicotine.”

“You soak the tobacco overnight in water. In the morning you strain it, twisting all the liquid out, then the liquid is boiled until the water is removed. It looks like a thick syrup. If you do it long enough, it gets kinda like a paste.”

A knock at the door cut the conversation short. Kay stepped in with a stack of trays and some bottles of water. She looked at Jess and smiled, setting the trays on the table.

“Honey, I am so sorry. I wish there were something I could do.”

Jess didn't acknowledge the statement, staring at the floor instead. Obviously uncomfortable, Kay patted Jess on the leg. “If there is anything you need, you just let me know.”

Kay stepped toward the door. “There's some treats in there for you girls too. I'll come by tomorrow. Good night, girls.”

“Thanks, Kay. Good night,” Mary said, taking the top tray from the stack.

Jess wasn't interested in eating. She took a bottle of water and lay back on her bunk. Fred dangled a Rice Krispie Treat in front of her, hoping to get her to smile, but Jess just shook her head.

When Fred finished eating, she took the trays back to the kitchen. After rinsing them, she went back to where the trash was kept. Fred went through the empty cans and found one about the size of a large soup can.
Perfect
, she thought. She quickly rinsed it out, then hid it under her shirt on her walk back to room.

Back in the room, she set the can down on the table and emptied the tobacco into it. She poured water from one of the bottles Kay had brought over, and let it settle.

“Now we wait.”

I
cast my line out into the slow-moving water and looked over at Thad. “Back when things were normal, I used to wish I could fish all day. Now . . . I mean, it's still fun, but it ain't the same.”

Thad was trying to extricate the worm on his hook. “Fishing 'cause you want to and fishing 'cause you have to are two entirely different things.” He flipped the green mass into the river and cast the line back out. “There's a lot of things I remember wishing for. We thought we had it so rough, but, man we really had it made.”

“Yeah, no shit. I never was one for keeping up with the Joneses, but I let what I thought was the rat race consume me. Hell, we had no idea what a rat race was compared to what we have now.”

He laughed. “Yeah, a rat in a maze is always looking for the cheese.”

“We're in a maze now and don't know where the exit is.” I hooked a fish and reeled it in, a small brim. “And we're looking for cheese, fish or whatever we can find.”

Thad laughed again. “Never heard of fish rats.” He then rolled his eyes upward with a big smile on his face. “Uh-oh, look out.”

I followed his eyes to see Sarge stomping his way toward us.

“Morg!”

I waved at him. “Over here.”

He shook his head. “No shit, Sherlock, you're in the wide-ass open.” He dropped onto the kayak beside me that I'd turned over to use as a bench. “You know where Wildcat Lake is?”

“Yeah, I know where it's at. Why?”

He unfolded a map and spread it out on the ground in front of us. “Point it out.”

I jabbed my finger in the dirt, about two inches to the left of the map's outer edge. “It's over there.”

“Well, shit,” he replied.

“You got the adjoining map?”

He shook his head. “Can't find it. Do you think you could direct us there?”

“Oh yeah, I can get there on the trails. I used to hunt in a swamp near it.”

“You know anything about an antenna near there?”

“Yeah, it's on the southeast side.”

“Can you get to it? In the dark?”

I looked at him. “You mean, like, me take you there?” He nodded. “You know Mel's gonna be pissed.” He nodded again. “And
you're
gonna be the one to tell her?” This time he shook his head no.

“We need to leave about four in the morning.” He stood up. “There shouldn't be any shooting, just a meeting. Tell her that.”

“I'm gonna tell her you said so.”

“Whatever it takes! See you in the morning.”

“Oh, you in trouble now!” Thad said and slapped his knee.

“What are you laughing at? I'm gonna throw your name in there too.”

The smile on Thad's face melted. “Why you gotta drag me into this?”

Grinning, I said, “Not so funny now, is it?”

He smiled. “You want me to come?”

“Hell yeah, if you want to.”

“In that case, I don't want to.”

I shook my head. “You're an ass,” I said with a smile.

“A big 'un!” he said as I walked off.

Mel was at the picnic tables watering the seedlings she and Bobbie had planted, when I strolled up, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“How's the dirt?”

She dipped her Solo cup into a bucket of water. “I hope it starts to grow something.”

“It will.” I hesitated. “So, hey, I have to go out with the old man and the three musky queers in the morning.”

To my surprise, her reply was a simple, “Okay.” I expected more and was prepared for the sharp tongue I figured was coming. When it didn't, I wasn't sure how to react.

“I'm just taking them up to Wildcat Lake. They're meeting someone. He said there shouldn't be any trouble.” I didn't want to say “any shooting.”

She dunked the cup again. “It's all right. You know how I feel and I know you're going to do what you want.”

“It's not like that. But he's helping us and if he needs my help, I gotta return the favor, ya know?”

“You don't need to convince me. Whatever.”

The sound of an approaching vehicle interrupted us. Sarge's buggy rounded the corner with Mike at the wheel, the smoker in tow. I slapped Danny on the back as he was getting out.

“Hey, man, you got it!”

Danny looked back at Mike as he unhitched it. “Yeah, we got it,” he said abruptly, then walked off.

“Hey, Mike, what's up with him?”

“He's upset, man. His place was pretty trashed.”

“No shit, what happened?”

“There were some kids fishing in his pond in his backyard. They told us that the DHS goon squad comes through every day, probably checking to see if we're there. From the looks of things, they're pretty pissed and did a number on his place.”

I shook my head. “Man, Bobbie is going to be pretty upset.”

“If she takes it half as hard as he did, I can only imagine.”

“Did you see my place?”

“No, we didn't want to take any more chances than we had to, sorry, man.”

“No, that's cool. I wouldn't want you guys to get hurt looking at my place.”

Jeff walked up with Thad. “Looks like you boys have a very devout fan club,” he said.

“Sounds like it. I'm surprised they haven't burned the whole neighborhood to the ground yet.” I walked back to the cabin to tell Mel the news.

Mel was still at the table, arranging her trays of planted seeds. I told her about Danny's house and suggested that our place was probably in the same condition. She shrugged. “Guess it's a good thing we aren't there, then.”

“Yeah. Hey, are you all right?”

She sat down at the table. “I don't know. I'm just kind of over it.”

“What do you mean, over it?” I was a little worried.

“When we were at home, this all wasn't so bad. I mean, it was bad, but being in our home, with power and running water, made it bearable.” She looked around the small cluster of cabins. “Being stuck out here is really starting to weigh on me.”

I reached out and took her hands in mine. “I know. Believe me, I know. We may not have the house, but we've got each other still, and that's all that matters. And this isn't going to last forever—it can't.”

“How can you be sure? How long will it take? Five years? Ten? Might as well be forever. I don't want to waste my life out here in the boonies.”

I smiled and kind of laughed at the statement. “You got something else to do, an appointment I didn't see on the calendar?”

“You know what I mean. Besides, we've got other problems.”

“What?”

“Food. The stored food is almost completely gone. All the canned stuff is gone, except for one canned ham. We have rice, beans and grits, and some freeze-dried and dehydrated veggies and stuff, that's about it. Oh, and sugar and salt, we have lots of that.”

“Really, all the canned stuff? Even the butter and cheese?”

“We have some of that, but who's going to make a meal of buttered cheese?”

Grinning, I patted my stomach. “Well, if we had bread.”

“Don't get me started. I've been craving a sandwich for days now. I dreamed about pastrami and swiss on rye last night.”

Waving my hands and shaking my head, I shouted, “Stop it, stop it, stop it! Don't even talk about it!”

“We're going to have to do something. There's so many people here and our supplies weren't designed for it. It's about to get desperate around here.”

“There's plenty out here, you just have to know where to find it.”

She stood. “I'm going to go see Bobbie.” I walked around the table and hugged her. “It'll be all right, don't worry.”

Our conversation weighed on me as I walked down to the river. Thad and Jeff were down there as well.

“Either of you know anything about stuff we can eat out here?”

“If we were farther south I could help you out, but up here, not so much,” Jeff said.

“I know some, but I'm no expert,” Thad said.

“We're all going to have to become experts, and quick. Our food stocks are pretty much sapped. We've got to start foraging.”

Jeff looked out at the river. “This is probably as good a place as any. Better than back in your neighborhood, at least. I'll help. You just show me what to get and I'll do it.”

“Me too,” Thad added.

“There's a lot in the river and along it. We're going to need to get some canoes, if we can. The kayaks are great, but it'll be easier to harvest and transport stuff in canoes.”

“I hate canoes,” Thad said.

I smiled. “Ahh, are you like Mel? She can turn a canoe over looking at it.”

A smile spread across his face. “Big men and canoes don't go together too well.”

“We can get them from the park upriver. There were a bunch of them in the same place where we got the picnic tables. We can take the boat out tomorrow after I come back from helping out Sarge,” I said.

Jeff nodded. He dug his hand into the mud and pulled out a large mussel. Holding it up, he asked, “Can't we eat these?”

“In theory, yes. But in practice, I don't know. I've heard of people getting sick.”

“Back home there was this little Italian place I'd go to; they had the best mussels. I'm going to see if I can come up with some. I'll give them a shot and see.”

“You better only try one and let Doc know before you do in case you get sick. It should be fine, though. This river is clean—there's no human habitation, no farming or nothin'. Only one bridge over it, and anything that's washed off in that area there has been flushed out by now.”

“Good, then I'm going mussel hunting.”

Thad stood up. “I'm going to clean these fish and see what Miss Mel has planned for dinner.”

“Do me a favor and tell her I went to talk to the old man about tomorrow?”

He gave me a thumbs-up as he walked away. I walked along the river to Sarge's cabin. He and the guys were sitting out front on ammo cans.

“Hey, Morg, glad you're here,” Sarge said as I pulled up a can and sat down. “We're leaving early, way ahead of our meeting. I want to be out there and have eyes on the place when they show up.”

“Whatever you need.”

Sarge handed me a stick. “Can you sketch out the place, give us an idea of where we're going?”

I smoothed the dirt with my boot. “Sure.” I drew a big circle, then a line above it and one on the left intersecting it. On the left side of the circle, I drew an X. Pointing at the circle, I said, “This is the lake,” then pointed at the top line. “This is Highway forty.” Then to the left line. “And this is Highway nineteen.” I pulled the line for 19 down farther and then drew an another X past the lake. “This first X is the antenna where you're supposed to meet, and this second one”—I stabbed the stick into the X—“is the camp.”

Sarge's brow furrowed as he looked at the drawing.

“Kinda close to the bad guys,” Ted said.

“Real close,” Sarge said. “Morg, you can get us there without using the paved roads, right?”

Using the stick, I drew another meandering line off from the back of the lake angling away from 19. “There's a trail back here we can use that cuts through the woods. We'll have to cross one paved road and some dirt roads, but it'll keep us far from this mess over here.” I tapped the X for the camp.

“How far you reckon it is?”

“It's probably twenty miles the way we're going.”

“We need to leave earlier, then. I want to be on the trail by oh three hundred. We'll take both buggies.” Sarge looked at Mike. “Bring your two oh three. Ted, you take my M1A. There will be a SAW on each vehicle as well. We'll find a place to stage our rides. Two of us'll stay with them and three of us move into a position where we can watch the area for them to show up. Doc, you and Mike will stay with the rides. I don't want you out there if there's any shooting; we might need your hands.”

“I thought you said there wasn't going to be any shooting,” I said.

“Morg, one thing you learn in this business is never assume anything. Ted will take up a position where he can cover us with the M1A. You and me will go out and talk.”

“Why me?” I jabbed my thumb toward the small circle. “Any of these guys are infinitely better when the lead starts to fly than me.”

“You said you might know these old boys.”

“I don't know about that. Last time I saw those guys, only one of them walked away. They might have some hard feelings toward me.”

Ted looked up. “Did you kill any of them?”

“No, I tried to help them, get them to take cover, but they ran out and started shooting at that damn helicopter.”

“Don't worry, you'll be all right.”

“Go on and get some rest. I'll rattle your cage at oh two thirty.”

I nodded and got up. “See you then.”

On the way back to my cabin I stopped by Danny's. He and Bobbie were sitting in camp chairs under a big live oak. Mel and the girls were there too.

“Sorry to hear about the house, man,” I said.

Danny made a “whatever” gesture with his face. “We knew it would happen.”

“At least they didn't burn it down,” Bobbie said.

“Yet,” Danny added.

“I'm going with Sarge in the morning; he needs me to guide him somewhere. Can you keep an eye on Mel and the girls?”

Mel looked up. “I can keep an eye on myself, thank you very much.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I ain't going anywhere.”

“I thought you said you weren't going to run around and play soldier anymore,” Bobbie said, looking to Mel.

Oh, thanks for that.
“I'm not, it's just to meet some guys and talk.”

“Can I come?” It was Taylor.